


Lost Star

by Emma Nonn (EmmaNonna)



Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-18 22:52:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 40,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19344316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmmaNonna/pseuds/Emma%20Nonn
Summary: Tiella, a mercenary from an AU of modern day Earth where myths and legends are apparently true, gets transported to Remnant due to interacting with a relic from her world. And because of unforeseen circumstances, is inadvertently caught in the middle of Ozpin's war. Now, how will her presence change the lives of our characters? Will not be a power-fantasy self-insert, I swear!





	1. Chapter 1

There she laid, the cold hard floor stealing warmth from her body. Coughing awake, she suddenly jerked to sit upright.

"Ugh... where the hell am I?" she said, holding her head with both hands as she rested her elbows on her knees.

Waking up feeling groggy, she let her eyes wander. A dimly lit hall with high ceilings and large pillars leading somewhere, and end where she could not see.

"What was I doing again..?"

Brushing her bangs out of her eyes to see better, she turned in place, slowly taking in her surroundings.

"I think I was with Lillianne and Bardel... doing...  _ something... somewhere _ ..."

Tired, she looked up, then hung her head as she let out a long, deep sigh. Frustrated that she can't recall what she'd been doing before she ended up where she stood, she opted to clear her head by exploring whatever this place was.

_ "Lamps... obviously leading somewhere. Is that green fire? God where the hell am I? This place better not be some hideout for a creepy-ass cult. And this path better lead to a god damn exit." _

Following the lamps, the only sound she could hear for minutes was the echoes of her boots hitting the large floor tiles. Eventually, she found herself at an intersection where both hallways just end up getting darker the further they go. She stood there for a few seconds, contemplating whether to make a turn or just go straight ahead.

_ "Yay, more halls to help me get lost." _

Not feeling the mood to decide for herself, she copped her pockets for a coin. Luckily for her, she had a couple. Fishing one out of her pocket, she laid the coin flat on her thumb, ready to flip.

_ "Heads to make a turn, tails to continue going forward. I'll do another if it hits heads," _ she said to herself, a mental note to make sure she didn't forget which side decided which.

The coin flipped in the air and she caught it lazily with her right hand and immediately pressed it flat on the back of her left hand. She removed her hand, revealing tails.

_ "Straight ahead then." _

She walked forward and did another flip of the coin and caught it lazily once more, then placed it back in the pocket she retrieved it from. Her decision to walk forward was again met with another intersection, much like the first one. This time, however, she opted to keep walking forward, too tired to even think of deciding on anything.

A short moment later, she found the end of the hall where the lights were a little brighter.

An elevator. She looked up and sighed in relief. Then she fetched the coin another time, flipped it once more, caught it, and gave it a kiss.

_ "Ugh... thank Lady Luck."  _ she thought as she pocketed her lucky coin again. She walked up to the elevator and found no buttons to open the doors.

_ "Oh god please don't tell me I'm trapped... wherever the hell  _ **_here_ ** _ is." _ her eyes wandered frantically, searching for a button, then slapped herself in the head hard enough to actually leave a mark.

_ "There's that fucking button." _ she hurriedly pressed it. Not feeling anything happening, she pressed it harder with two fingers, and still no reaction. Pissed as hell already, she slammed her fist hard and finally, she heard the infamous  _ "ding" _ and the sound of the elevator doors opening.  _ "Am I going blind or am I just tired? How do you feel so old while being so young?" _

She stepped in, and pressed the button that leads to the first floor... had it been there in the first place. She found it odd that there had been no buttons other than the one that had no symbol on it. Deciding again to not dwell on it, she pressed it and went to the far back to lean on the wall, hands in her pockets and left foot touching said wall.

_ "Feeling old while still young... heh... top ten questions science still cannot answer. Pfft... hehehe... Wait- no-... Oh god, Lillianne's stupid jokes are rubbing on me." _ she snickered, softly chuckling at the joke she thought to herself while she waited. After the short laugh, she looked up to see where she was but again, found no symbol giving away just where she had been.

"I was underground then?" she said after focusing on the feeling of being pulled down.  _ "I still can't remember what I was doing with those two, god damn it. Well, whatever it was, should come back to me after a while."  _ she hummed in thought. She closed her eyes, as she's the only one there, not noticing the small camera that can be easily found at the corner of the elevator, tired as she was.

_ "At least there's no elevator music." _

Completely unbeknownst to her, below where she had just been, a short way off the place she laid, a large door with intricate patterns and engravings stood, braziers holding larger green fire at the side. The dimly glowing light that can be found at the top of the door frame slowly but surely shrunk to a dot, until it was no more. The sphere, the source of light at the door, almost instantly after going out, had cracked.

* * *

A minute or two later, Tiella heard the elevator's  _ "ding" _ and her eyes opened groggily. The doors opened, and what greeted her was a bright light from the outside that completely contrasted the dimness of the place below.

She closed her eyes reflexively and turned her head away slightly, then once more she looked ahead. She saw a table where a silver-haired man was sitting at, looking like he had been sipping coffee, eyebrows raised and looking directly at her with a stoic expression.

Then she saw another person, a woman with blonde hair and a scowl on her face, holding what seemed to be a riding crop threateningly at her.

"Speak. Who are you, what were you doing down there, and how did you get there?" the woman said, her voice on edge. A hard look can be found in her eyes as she tilted her head upward to look down on Tiella. "Don't even bother defending yourself. Do anything suspicious and I throw you out the window."

_ "Fucking hell... nothing's ever easy." _ she thought, sensing the danger she had unwittingly placed herself in. She glared back at the woman, then at the man still sitting contentedly at his table sipping his coffee, then back at the woman. Not even bothering to go for a fighting stance, she slowly rose both her hands above her head.

"My name is Tiella," she said, taking one cautious step forward to test the waters and immediately the lady tensed and a purple glow covered her riding crop.  _ "She a Skill User too?" _ sensing that doing anything she hasn't said she's allowed to do was a bad idea, she placed her foot back to where it was. "I'm a mercenary..." she said, holding off on what else to say.

_ "I'm not really sure if being honest would work here... but I don't really have anything else to go with. Fuck it." _ she sighed, she shook her head while looking down and internally begged for Lady Luck to save her ass once more.

"I'm a mercenary... and," she licked her dry lips, "...I'm positive that you won't believe me but..." she looked between the two people, standing stiffly in her place, "I don't really know how or why I ended down where I was."

Not even a second later she found herself being forced into a wall by an... invisible force, not understanding anything that was happening. All she understood was that she was hurting everywhere and that it was hard to breathe.

"Surely you don't expect us to believe that?" her face felt like it was being pressed on by something heavy, and then her whole body had been lifted while still being pressed onto said wall.

"I won't ask again." the lady threatened. Tiella looked below, where she saw the lady was now standing in front of her, still holding her riding crop against her, baleful glare in her eyes.

"God damn it! I don't know!" she forced her words out, "I don't know okay! I don't fucking  _ know! _ " not one to back down, she forced herself to meet the lady face to face to send her a glare of her own.  _ "Of course she's a god damned Skill User too." _

Without even speaking anymore, the lady flicked her wrist and she was sent speeding into the window.

_ "Ah shit. I hope this isn't any higher than the 5th floor."  _ she thought, readying herself for a sharp fall.

Steeling herself, she closed her eyes as she can't put her arms in front of her to shield her face and prepared to roll as soon as she felt the ground, though it never came.

"Glynda." she heard a man's voice.

_ "I haven't crashed?" s _ he felt no motion for a few seconds, believing that she'd come to a stop, so she opened her eyes. " _ Oh god thank Lady Lu- whoah-ly shit!" _

There stood the man that had been doing nothing but sip coffee since earlier, face just inches in front of her, still holding the damned cup. He was studying her face closely, holding his chin with his face up close to hers, which unnerved her and made things even more awkward than it already was with her being suspended in midair in a, well,  _ awkward _ position.

A short moment later, he stared intently at her eyes, unnerving her even further. "Golden eyes," he said in a low voice as if whispering, though she was sure the lady heard it too, then took another casual sip. He then looked beyond her to where Tiella assumed the lady, who she remembered was called "Glynda", was standing and gave her a look. With an idea of what the man wanted, the lady rolled her eyes, scowl never leaving her face.

"Ozpin," voice cold, "I'm not letting her go," Glynda said, a tone that left no room for objections.

"Of course." Ozpin, as Tiella now knew both their names, nodded his head in acknowledgment and faced Tiella again.

"You said your name was Tiella, was it?" she would have nodded if she could, but remembered that she could at the very least speak, albeit with a little bit of difficulty.

"Yes." voice slightly strained.

"Good. Now, Ms. Tiella, why don't you join us? We'll be taking a short walk  _ 'down there' _ ." and gave her a look, one eyebrow raised, a not so subtle dare to question him.

"Wow, giving me a choice? What changed your mind?" she said sarcastically, and immediately she felt a force tighten around her body momentarily, squeezing as if to make her pop not unlike a pressed balloon, before loosening up once more.  _ "Man, fuck that lady." _

After a  _ very _ awkward 3 minutes in the elevator, they finally reached their destination. Tiella unwillingly followed them as she's still suspended in midair.  _ "Hope they don't lock me up, escaping's gonna be a pain." _

"Let's say we believe what you said," Ozpin said, walking ahead of them, cane in hand. "where and how exactly did you find yourself?"

Lost in thought for a bit, she was unable to answer immediately, so she was brought back to attention by another painful squeezing sensation. "God damn it, lady!" she yelled indignantly.

"Answer him." her voice still cold.

"I was gonna, even without your fucking probi-" suddenly forced to stop, she felt her mouth forced shut, and the painful squeezing returned, but with added twists to her body.

"Glynda." Ozpin called without looking back, "Please, let her speak." his voice betraying nothing, unnervingly indifferent to Tiella's ears.

Glynda obliged and loosened her grip on Tiella, allowing her to speak freely. Free to breathe and speak once more while still being held in the air, she gasped, breathing as hard as she could, both to breathe and to soothe the pain the only way she knew she could given her situation.

"Lady-..." she breathed the words out, "...fuck your shit." ever the rebellious young girl.

Glynda ignored her words, not wanting to be chastised by Ozpin for the same reason a second time.

"Well?" Ozpin spoke, his tone a touch colder than it had been. "I hope you understand that you're under our mercy at the moment. So I hope you refrain from speaking crudely to my assistant."

Tiella heard the threat loud and clear, and she also saw that his knuckles had tensed as he was speaking, only loosening when he had finished his words. "Fine." she sighed once more,  _ "Lady Luck don't abandon me now."  _ she mentally begged once more. "A couple paces from here, I woke up on the floor."

"You woke up?" Ozpin repeated.

"Yeah. I only remember that I was on the floor in the middle of this hall." she looked down, she would've hung her head if she could, and spoke in a low voice, "I can't even remember what I was doing to get here. I was hoping I could remember in time."

"Again, do you expect us to believe that?" Glynda spoke from behind them.

"I don't."

"In that case, we simply need to investigate the area," Ozpin spoke casually, the edge in his voice from before having left.

"Can you let me go? I have an itch on my ass and it's not like I can run from blondie over there." Tiella asked, actually feeling an itch on her left buttocks.

"Ozpin?"

He finally turned to face them since coming down and stared at Tiella for a short moment, "Very well. She understands her situation well enough. However, any weapon you have will be left with my assistant."

Slowly letting her down, "I hope  _ you _ know what you're doing." addressing Ozpin as she released her hold on Tiella. Shortly after finally scratching her butt, she drew her combat knives, four of them, along with four pistols, begrudgingly handing them over to Glynda one by one, letting them float behind her. She also took off her grenade belt to hand over.

While Tiella had been taking her gear off, Glynda took the time to look over Tiella's tools.  _ "Pistols, simple in design. Two of them seem to be made for explosive power while the other two were made for penetrating thick armor."  _ she let her Aura enter the pistols, inspecting every nook and cranny,  _ "No Dust? Are her bullets solely made of metal? That can't be good. And her knives?"  _ extending her Aura deep into the knives' integrity, she found the same result.  _ "Even her knives are not Dust enhanced." _ she concentrated a bit more _ "And I can find no trace of her Aura in them. Very strange." _

_ "Does she not have her Aura unlocked?"  _ Glynda thought, forcing the scowl on her face to stay in an attempt to not give away her shock to the others.  _ "And she calls herself a mercenary? Either she's just another buffoon or there's something she's not telling us. And I hope for all our sakes, it's the former." _

After Tiella finished handing over everything, she raised her hands above her head once more and showed both the front and back of them to show that she was then empty handed.

Ozpin faced forward once more and lead the way to where he hoped he would not find anything amiss.  _ "While not exactly old, her choice in weaponry, especially her armor, are a little dated." _ he thought to himself, noting the look Glynda made after what he believed to be her inspection of Tiella's tools.  _ "And it seems that Glynda found something noteworthy." _

"Now then, where exactly did you say you found yourself?" Ozpin once again asked.

"I can't say  _ exactly _ where since the pillars here all look the same but we're almost there, just past the intersecting hallways."

A short, quiet moment later where the echoes of their shoes were the only thing they heard, Tiella finally asked them to stop.

"Right around here."

"Hmm." Ozpin looked around, then, without looking back, "Glynda, if you would please."

Without speaking, Glynda once more took hold of Tiella and held her in midair.

"What the-" was all she could say before her mouth was once again forcibly shut. Thankfully, there was no squeezing or twisting that followed, though she was still annoyed that she couldn't speak.

Ozpin and Glynda continued walking forward, searching the walls beside them, letting their Aura's area of influence expand, taking up the entire width of the hall and a few short meters front and behind them.

Unaware of the two's expanding auras, which seemed to further confirm Glynda's suspicions of an unlocked Aura based on the lack of reaction from her, Tiella glumly looked around, checking for anything she might've missed the first time.

A short while later, Ozpin took an abrupt halt and gave Glynda a worried look. "The Relic."

"What?" was all Glynda could say while understanding the worry that Ozpin felt, she was unsure exactly what it could be.

"I originally feared that she was one of  _ her _ pawns the moment we saw her inside the elevator, which lead me to fear for Amber. Thankfully, she's unharmed, but..."

"But?"

"Amber was not affected. No, I have a feeling we have something worse on our hands." Ozpin said. He reached his Aura further, to where Amber would be resting, confirming that she remained untouched.

"You mean to tell me..." Glynda glared at Tiella, who was floating in the air, a confused look on her face as she tried to piece together what she heard, to no avail. "You!" she let go of her hold over Tiella's mouth but squeezed and twisted her once more, "What have you done with the relic!?"

"God damn it, lady! I don't even know what the fuck a relic is!" was all Tiella could muster before she could no longer speak due to the painful twisting and squeezing.

"Glynda," Ozpin called, while not exactly shouting, it had been the loudest his voice had been since this all began.

"Ozpin?" she called, asking worriedly and confusedly, wondering why Ozpin was trying to stop her.

"I don't believe she's an enemy."

"What do you me-"

"She may be a Maiden."

"Wha..." Glynda could only stand in shock of what she'd heard.  _ "This girl? A Maiden?"  _ And due to said shock, she'd inadvertently let go of her hold on Tiella, plopping her down on the ground at an unnatural position, which no doubt sprained some bones.

" _ Jesus H-! _ " Tiella yelled in pain, no doubt feeling those sore and sprained limbs especially after landing over them awkwardly.

"I'm still not a hundred percent sure if she is indeed one, however, I'm positive that she's not one of  _ her _ pawns."

_ "I fucking hate this lady, I swear to god." _ Tiella thought, laying on the floor, panting, feeling for anything broken, for anything worse than the sprain on her shoulders and elbows.  _ "Nothing broken, good." _

"Alright wise guy. Glad to see that you've decided I'm not your enemy, bu-"

"But that doesn't put you in the clear, no." Ozpin interrupted whatever she was about to say. "I am still not sure whether you're indeed a Maiden, however, your presence here has to lead to a drastic change. Whether for better or for worse, we still don't know. But understand this,"

Ozpin turned to face Tiella, took a knee and brought his face inches away from hers. "right now, you're already  _ deeply _ involved in our matters." staring intently into her bright golden orbs, and she into his dark brown eyes. He stood, "So don't expect to be let go so easily." and looked behind him, to a door.

"Like I  _ said _ , I don't even know  _ what _ you're talking about! So how about  _ you _ give  _ me _ some  _ explanations _ , huh!?" she responded indignantly, not appreciating being spoken to so cryptically and subsequently being ignored.

Glynda had been trying to process what Ozpin meant, however, she could find no reason to see why Tiella was  _ not _ an enemy, suspicious as she was already. She looked to Ozpin and saw that he had once more turned. She wondered for a bit, then looked beyond him, to where she believed Ozpin was looking.

The door that opens the way to the relic. It had been tampered with.

Where the door was normally glowing a bright green at the top, a dull, cracked sphere, robbed of its light, can be found. Where the locks were constantly interchanging, making sure there was absolutely  _ no one _ other than a Maiden could open the gate, stood the locks, unmoving. Forced shut as if to keep others out or whatever inside of it.

"The door to the relic's been opened?" Glynda asked incredulously.

"Perhaps. I feel that it's been tampered with. Or worse."

"Worse?"

"The relic was used without our knowing," Ozpin spoke grimly, turning to look at the girl who suddenly appeared out of nowhere once more. Glynda, not knowing what to do, can only do the same.

* * *

_ "Seriously, what the fuck?"  _ she thought, ignoring the look she's been getting from the two. She still sat where she fell, unwilling to move just yet, making sure she didn't make her sprains worse than they already were.

_ "First I get fucking dumped to some god knows where, then I meet Mr. Cryptic and Mrs. Needs-To-Get-Fucking-Laid, all the while being twisted and squeezed like I'm some fucking lemon. And I still can't fucking remember what I was doing! I am SO making whoever's responsible for this shit pay." _

While Tiella had been deep in thought, cursing the world, Ozpin walked towards her. "Ms. Tiella?"

"What?" clearly annoyed.

"I believe proper introductions need to be made. You're a suspicious existence at the moment. An enigma, so to speak. And while I don't believe you're one of our enemies-"

"Great!" she interrupted, fully sarcastic.

"-we must make sure that you're our ally." not allowing the interruption to disrupt him from speaking.

Tiella thought things over for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of all possible decisions she could make.  _ "Should I give them the finger and fuck off? Bad idea, I'll probably get squeezed to death for real this time. What if I fake being allies? Then they find out and I get squeezed, of course. What if I knocked her out first, THEN I fuck off? No, no, that's probably worse. She's the  _ **_assistant_ ** _ , if someone that annoyingly strong is the assistant, I can only imagine what the Big Boss will be like. And all my tools are still with her, fucking telekinetic bitch." _

Ozpin and Glynda watched as Tiella put her hand over her chin and went into deep thought. They watched as her normally sharp expression turned sharper, as if planning something against them, then softened. They saw this cycle happen a few times until finally, she sighed.

That put Glynda on edge, wary of her going against them. While she's not worried about taking Tiella down, she was still worried about what sort of importance she had in all of this, considering Ozpin mentioned that she may be a possible Maiden.

"Fine. As long as you answer my questions honestly, then I will answer yours too."

Glynda and Ozpin visibly relaxed from her answer.

"I'll go first." Tiella said, "Where am I?"

Glynda was about to answer, but Ozpin motioned for her to let him do the talking.

"You're in Beacon Academy, one of the few Huntsmen Academies in Vale."

"Never heard of it. Who are you?"

At this, they both raised one of their eyebrows. "I am Ozpin, Headmaster to Beacon Academy, and she is Glynda Goodwitch, Deputy Headmistress and Professor in Combat."

"What do these  _ "huntsmen" _ do exactly?" she asked nonchalantly, an idea formed in her mind based on the name.

Glynda scoffed at the question, while Ozpin simply answered. "We train children to combat the Grimm invasion."

"So you're training child soldiers? Must be a nice place then," she said, arms akimbo and her voice dripping with both sarcasm and venom.

They once more, found her reaction odd.

"Whatever, not my place, not my say. You said something about Grimm?" dismissing their reactions easily.

Ozpin and Glynda gave each other a knowing look, eyebrows raised for the nth time in the conversation. Ozpin then continued to answer as he had, "Yes, these are creatures of darkness, their sole purpose being the extinction of mankind as we know it."

_ "You've gotta be fucking kidding me, right? Or is this another effect of 'his' influence?"  _ she thought, thinking back to a certain memory of a powerful aberrant that she and her teammates faced a few times already. "And what do they look like? There a specific look to them or do they all come in all shapes and sizes?" she asked, making sure of her own suspicions.

"Yes to both."

"Explain."

"The Grimm, while easily recognizable by the ungodly darkness of their fur that doesn't reflect light and alabaster bone armor that protects certain parts of their bodies, they come in the form of many different species. Some come in the form of wolves, which we call Beowolves, some in the form of bears, which we call Ursi."

"So they mostly come as wildlife animals?"

"For the most part, yes."

"Okay, so where exactly  _ is _ Vale?"

At this very question, Ozpin and Glynda shared another look, gears turning in their heads. Glynda unwilling to accept the idea, full on scowled and rolled her eyes away. Ozpin, on the other hand, can only smile wryly at his assistant.

"Vale is one of the four main kingdoms that can be found in the world of Remnant."

"Ha?"

"I believe it's our turn to ask the questions."

"Wai-"

"What is your full name?"

She sighed, knowing she can't really fight back against the questioning. She also expected the question to come, but she still hoped that they wouldn't be asking for her full name as she's not particularly fond of it. She straightened her back, her arms still akimbo, and answered, "My full name is Celestiella V. Margory."

_ "My name just doesn't fit me."  _ she thought.

"And you mentioned that you are a Mercenary earlier, correct?"

"Yeah."

"How long have you been a Mercenary?"

"7-8 years, give or take."

"And you're... how old?" already fearing what he was about to hear.

"18."

There was a pause shared between all three of them. Both Ozpin and Glynda clearly uncomfortable at the idea that a young girl barely stepping into her adulthood had already seen so much more than most teens her age should have any right to see.

"Don't," Tiella spoke sharply.

This caught the attention of both adults, seeing the expression on the young girl's face.

"Do  _ not _ pity me. I don't  _ need _ it. You can shove your  _ pity _ where the sun don't shine." she continued vehemently. Then, after a few seconds of silence, she spoke softly, "All of it was my decision."

They both saw the look in Tiella's eyes. And while Ozpin was able to accept it, Glynda however, could not even begin to understand it.  _ "What could possibly make a 10-year-old choose the path of a mercenary? Under what circumstances?"  _ she gave Tiella a scrutinizing look,  _ "And that expression... what does it mean? Either she's a good actress or..." _

_ "She's acknowledged that the choices she's made won't let her be forgiven so easily, and probably never will. That she's resigned to a fate that would lead to her eventual demise. And yet she still holds the resolve to see it, fight it, all the way through. An unspoken maturity... and naivety that she seems to hold dear." _ were Ozpin's own thoughts.

"Very well," Ozpin responded, breaking Glynda from her own thoughts, and earning a relieved look from Tiella.

_ "It's good that he's willing to let it slide for now. Maybe this old man's not so bad after all? Nah, he's probably just good at manipulating kids. He's the headmaster of a school for child soldiers after all."  _ Tiella thought, reminding herself not to trust these people so easily despite the promise to answer honestly, though she can't rightly help but be open even for a bit.

"Where were you the last time you remember?"

"I... Like I said, I can't remember. I've been trying to remember ever since I woke up down here." Tiella said, holding her arms closer to her.

"Go ahead, try to remember. We can wait." giving Glynda a knowing look and placing both his hands on his cane. Glynda only sighed in response, her arms akimbo.

Tiella closed her eyes, trying her damnedest to remember, nearly breaking into a sweat.

"I... I was... with my team. Lillianne and Bardel." she spoke, eyes still forcefully closed.

"And?"

"We were... we were doing something... somewhere."

"What were you doing, and where were you at the time?"

"We were... escorting a group of archaeologists... in Greece... along with some other scientists..."

Both adults listening attentively,  _ "Greece?" _ wondering what or where it was, wary for any signs of lying.

"We stumbled upon a cave..."

"..."

"And..."

"..."

"And deep inside the cave... we found an... an old  _ thing _ ."

"Old thing?"

"A... an antique, probably... a relic, maybe?"

Once more, Ozpin and Glynda both shared a look, then Ozpin looked behind him, towards the door, then back to Tiella.

"And?"

"I think..." Tiella's expression changed slightly, from a forced concentration to a scowl.

"..."

"I think... Bardel, that fucking bastard..."

Ozpin’s and Glynda's eyebrows rose slightly from hearing the swearing but listened nonetheless.

"He... like he was cursed to be a clumsy fucking wrecking ball!" her voice going from low to loud in that one sentence, which surprised the two even more.

"Tripped on a goddamned rock, tumbled, then fucking crashed onto me!"

"..."

"Which pushed me towards the fucking thing we found!"

"..."

"Then I hit it the damn thing with my fucking head!"

"..."

"AND GOD DAMN IT THERE WAS A BRIGHT LIGHT!"

"..."

At this point, Tiella fumed. Eyes burned with rage, mouth in a snarl, and hands up as if strangling the air. "AND THEN I WOKE UP HERE! IN THIS FUCKING ROOM! WHERE I WAS FUCKING LOST!"

"..."

"THEN I FOUND A FUCKING ELEVATOR, SO I FINALLY THOUGHT "OH WOWEE AN EXIT AFTER SO LONG!", LIKE THE DUMBASS I AM!"

"Um... Ms. Margo-" Ozpin tried interrupting to calm her down, but she wouldn't have it.

"BUT THE ELEVATOR WOULDN'T FUCKING OPEN UNTIL I SMASHED MY FIST INTO THE DAMN THING!" she slammed her fist into her open palm, mimicking the motion, "FINALLY IT OPENED, SO I STEPPED IN AND THOUGHT I'D REST FOR A WHILE 'CAUSE I WAS FEELING TIRED AS FUCK!" arms waving animatedly.

"THEN WHEN THE ELEVATOR DOORS OPENED, I SAW  _ YOUR _ FUGLY MUG HAVIN' A  _ SIP _ FROM A GOD DAMN  _ MUG  _ LIKE IT'S JUST 7 IN THE FUCKING MORNING!" pointing at Ozpin, nearly touching his nose with her finger.

Ozpin blinked his eyes rapidly in response, staring at her finger, unsure how to actually react.

"THEN BLONDIE McHARDASS OVER HERE," she turned, pointing to Glynda with her open palm and continued, "STUCK ME TO A GOD DAMN WALL, SQUEEZED ME LIKE A LEMON MULTIPLE TIMES, TWISTED ME, NEARLY PULLING ME APART, AND ALMOST THREW ME OUT THE GODDAMNED WINDOW!"

Glynda affronted by how she'd been called, for her part, could only look away after hearing the rest of what she had to say about her.

"GOD DAMN IT! THIS IS ALL BARDEL'S FAULT!" By then, Tiella had gone hysterical, shouting to the heavens, the ceiling in this case. "I SWEAR TO GOD YOU'RE GETTING EXTRA ASSHOLES COURTESY OF MY GUNS THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOUR UGLY MUG YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!"

"..."

A few short moments later, Tiella was breathing heavily after her short outburst.

"Better?" Ozpin asked warily.

Tiella was still visibly breathing hard, though she'd calmed down marginally. "Yes."

"Good. Now, why don't we take this up to my office where we can discuss this further in a calm, and comfortable manner over a hot cup of coffee?" Ozpin suggested. "Sound good?"

Tiella turned around and spoke in a low, hushed, somewhat embarrassed voice, "Do you have... hot milk?"

"Indeed we do," Ozpin responded with a smile.

"With lots of sugar?"

"You can have as much sugar as you wish."

Her only response then was to nod her head slightly and immediately she went for the elevator, leaving the two behind.

"Well, now. That was something." Ozpin said, a wry smile across his face.

"She has a way with words and names, that's for sure." Glynda deadpanned.

"Reminds you of a certain young girl, doesn't she?" a teasing smile that he aimed at Glynda.

"At that particular moment? No, she knows  _ far _ more swear words."

"I'm sure that given time, even  _ you _ would have learned just as many words as she does now if you'd only loosened up, that is."

"Hmph!" was Glynda's only response. Stomping her way towards the elevator where Tiella was hopefully still waiting.

Ozpin stood there for a few seconds with a wry smile on his face. He shook his head after thinking back on what just happened, then made his way to follow the two ladies.


	2. Chapter 2

"So you're telling me..."

"Yes?"

"...that I'm in another world?"

"Yes."

"..."

"..."

"And... you expect me to believe that?"

Glynda scoffed softly, one eyebrow raised, as if she found it _offensive_ that it was _her_ that didn't believe them this time.

"I don't believe you have a choice," Ozpin said matter-of-factly, and then proceeded to sip from his mug.

Tiella pursed her lips. She sat at a comfortable chair, steaming hot cup of _very sweet_ milk held in both hands. On the chair across her, Glynda sat, a warm cup of tea placed on the table in front of her. And by the Headmaster's desk sat Ozpin, another full mug of coffee in hand.

_"I can't believe it's actually 7 in the morning... it was 2 in the afternoon last I checked."_

During the elevator ride back to Ozpin's office, Ozpin took the time to explain to Tiella that she may have been from a different world based on their prior conversation. It had come as a surprise to her, so she immediately thought that it was a joke. However, the serious looks on Ozpin and Glynda's faces said otherwise.

_"Another fucking world? Are you serious?"_ still not entirely sure what to believe. She sipped her milk and placed it down on the table in front of her, then sighed and looked back to Ozpin.

"Anything to make me believe?"

Ozpin placed his mug down and put his hands together in front of him, hiding his mouth from their view.

"For starters, you don't know what Grimm are."

"Well..." she said, letting her eyes roam around, avoiding Ozpin's gaze.

"And I don't believe we've heard of a... _Greece_. If it isn't the thick oily substance that you meant, then I can only imagine that it's a place where you're from."

"You're really not joking?"

"I don't think it's a time for jokes at the moment, so no."

"Do you have a world map that I could borrow?"

"Glynda?" Ozpin addressed, turning his head to face Glynda who had been content to sit quietly until spoken to.

"Of course." she immediately responded and stood from her seat, providing her handheld device to Tiella that was set to display the world map.

"Do you know what this is?" Glynda asked.

"Looks like a new model of a smartphone," Tiella replied, one eyebrow raised, scrutinizing the device.

Glynda hummed in thought, slowly and begrudgingly acknowledging Tiella's nature as an 'otherworlder'.

"This," Glynda raised the device momentarily, "is called a Scroll. It is a communications device that can also provide the user with various things such as-"

"So it's a phone."

"I don't know what that is bu-"

"I mean, it sure _sounds_ like one."

"..."

"Does it have a calculator?"

"Yes."

"Lets you take photos?"

"Yes."

"Do kids spend most of their days fiddling with it until they fry their brains out?"

"..."

"..."

"...yes."

"So it's a smartphone."

"Perhaps in _your_ world, it's the equivalent of... whatever a _smartphone_ is," Glynda explained, clearly annoyed at being interrupted multiple times. "But here, we call it a _Scroll_."

Not wanting to be interrupted again, Glynda immediately placed her Scroll in front of Tiella, tapped the screen a few times, and instantly, a hologram of the world map flashes itself, mildly catching Tiella off guard.

Glynda let a tiny smirk appear on her lips after seeing her reaction, but let it fade away just as easily as it appeared.

"Okay. It's a _really_ hi-tech smartphone." Tiella said, tilting her head left and right, mildly impressed that a small and ultra-thin handheld device is capable of showing holograms of world maps. Glynda, on her end, could only twitch her eyebrow at the comment.

After carefully studying the provided world map, she came to the conclusion that she did not know anything at all about it.

"You _could_ be fucking with me by giving me a fictional world map..." she said softly, only half-convinced of what they're telling her.

"I see." was Ozpin's only reply. He thought for a moment, then stood from his seat and walked over to the large window behind him. He then looked up, as if searching for something.

After a few seconds, "What is the moon like in your world? Can you describe it to me? In detail, please." he said, still looking up outside.

Confused, Tiella took a short moment to think before she answered, "It's round, has a bright yellow light on some days though it's usually just sort of blue on most days, and it's pretty small unless you have a telescope or something."

"Does it look anything like _that?_ " Ozpin said, still looking up, hands on his back, forcing Tiella to join him by the window, confused as she was already.

Looking up, Tiella found nothing out of the ordinary. Just a big blue sky with some normal looking clouds, and a giant fragmented moon. Nothing weird about seeing the moon in the morning.

_"Wait-"_ mouth agape, she walked closer, toward the window where she nearly placed herself against it.

"Is that... what I think it is..?" eyes wide in shock, she stared at Ozpin, looking for any signs to prove her thoughts to be wrong.

Glynda saw the shock in Tiella's expression and it confused her, sending her a scrutinizing gaze. _"Is there a difference between our moon and theirs?"_

After a short moment, Tiella felt weak in the knees and fell, holding on to the glass window for support, one hand covering her face. Ozpin took a knee and observed how she would further react.

_"Did someone bomb the moon..? Why would someone bomb the-..."_ her eyes darting left and right in rapid succession, mind racing. _"No. I need to stop ignoring reality."_

Tiella took both hands to her face, head hung low, holding it in resignation. Long and heavy sighs escaped her before she raised her face once more to meet Ozpin's eyes.

"...I really am in another world, huh?"

"I'm afraid so."

Tiella just sat there, staring out the window, at the moon, trying to take in what it _really_ meant to be in another world.

"Why don't we return to our seats?" Ozpin offered along with his hand for Tiella to take for her to stand. "We still have our warm drinks to finish after all."

"Okay."

Still confused, Glynda took the chance to ask incredulously, "Is there a problem with the moon? Is it not normal to see the moon in the mornings where you're from?"

Tiella heard the question but didn't answer immediately. She took Ozpin's hand to stand, then walked over to her seat. She took a big sip of her still hot cup of milk and gently placed it back on the table. "No, we see the moon in the mornings at times too, nothing weird about it."

"Then..?"

"Your moon is broken," she said, nonplussed.

Glynda gave her a look, not understanding what she meant. "The moon has always been broken."

Fearing that their discussion will get derailed, Ozpin spoke before Tiella could respond. "Why don't we discuss this topic for another time? We have more important matters to discuss after all."

Both Tiella and Glynda gave Ozpin a look but agreed nonetheless.

* * *

Ozpin was back on his seat, mug in hand.

Glynda as well returned to her seat and took a small sip of from her teacup.

Tiella was holding her cup of milk with both hands again as if trying to warm her hands through the fingerless tactical gloves she wore.

For a long while, they sat where they were, feeling varying degrees of anxiousness as they focused on downing their drinks. Both Ozpin and Glynda letting the reality of the matter sink, not only for Tiella but for the both of them as well.

A minute later and Ozpin's mug had been emptied. While reaching over to the pot of hot coffee on his desk for a refill, someone finally broke the unnerving silence.

"Can you help me make it back?" Tiella said softly, only staring at her cup with a blank expression.

Ozpin paused for a moment, but easily resumed to refilling his mug. He didn't answer immediately, opting to finish refilling first. "Short answer, no. Not yet at least."

She scowled at her cup after hearing his answer. Angry at the fact that things were far more complicated like she feared it would be. _"Gods fuck me. Nothing's ever fucking easy."_ she thought as she let another one of the very many sighs she felt she would be letting out in her time here.

"And the long answer?" she said, only sending a side glance down Ozpin's way.

"It would be very easy to return you to your world using the power of the relic that we have. However, if the relic that we've been keeping safe and hidden had indeed been used as I feared, accidentally or not, then that would mean we can only use the relic's power once more. And as soon as all of the relic's charges have been used up, it will enter a sort of deep sleep mode in an attempt to recharge itself for the next 100 years. And until that time, it will be nothing more than an antique whose only use is to collect dust."

"And because you said you have enemies, you want to keep as much trump cards as you have for the right time."

"That's right."

"You're basically telling me to stay here. For your war," she said through tightly clenched teeth, her words cut harder and harder as she spoke.

"I can understand that this is a very difficu-"

" **_Stop,_ **" she spoke sharply, her hands clasped tightly together, visibly shaking as she hung her head low, elbows resting on her knees. "Just... shut up for a bit..." her words cut cold, nearly spine-tingling, even to both adults in the room. "I don't need you patronizing me."

Ozpin did as told, observing Tiella from his desk with that stone-cold look that he usually wore.

Glynda, on the other hand, looked away, arms crossed in front of her. She did not dare look at the young girl across her. Not out of fear of her, no. But to keep herself from pitying the girl any more than she already did.

An actual child soldier, if she were to believe her story, inexperienced with what constitutes a normal childhood, had just been robbed of her life and home. Granted it wasn't anything like the life a teenager should be experiencing, but it was a life that the young girl had grown used to, depressing as it may sound. And even that was ignoring the fact that she had a team, possibly her friends and family in her own world.

Left behind with a very real possibility of never seeing them again.

She understood Ozpin's intentions clearly. Their fight against _'her'_ was a threat that always took precedence over anything no less than possibly world-ending. But it didn't mean that she would not feel guilty for the girl, for she, even if indirectly, was part of why Tiella can't return for better or for worse.

If she ever saw the crumbling form of the young girl directly across her, even she feared that the hard scowl she'd been using as a mask would crumble just as well.

And so she looked passed Ozpin, out the window where the sun was slowly rising along with her worries for the future.

Out the window where a small bird was flying towards them at a seemingly unnatural speed.

_"There's something wrong with that bird..."_ Glynda thought as she scrutinized said bird.

Seconds later, said bird had doubled in size as it got closer. Then tripled. And in that very moment, Glynda's expression hardened.

"Ozpin!" she yelled, stood to her feet, and entered a battle stance, riding crop in hand.

Ozpin, immediately sensing the tension from his assistant, looked behind him with his cane already in hand.

"Glynda," he called, never taking his eyes off the approaching bird. "I believe now would be a good time to return her weapons."

"I don't think weapons unenhanced by Aura _or_ Dust would do a thing to help her here," Glynda responded while re-positioning her glasses, though she was already returning Tiella's weapons to her nonetheless.

"It's more for her own peace of mind." He said, turning to give Glynda a look and Tiella a reassuring smile.

Tiella, still distraught and only understanding that there is a possible enemy approaching, confusedly received her weapons. She holstered everything save for one pistol, which she held and aimed at what she guessed was the enemy.

_"A bird? What's so dangerous about a bird?"_ she thought, not really registering the possible size of said approaching bird yet _"I mean, sure it's_ **_big_ ** _but..."_

"Ms. Margory," Ozpin called, "prepare to jump to the side. While I doubt the Giant Nevermore will be able to penetrate the window, it is still better to be cautious."

"Is that..." slowly taking in his words, connecting the dots in her head while observing the so-called Giant Nevermore. "...a Grimm?"

"Yes, it is one of the few common Grimm that can be found within Vale's borders. I'll discuss more about the Grimm with you later, for now, however..." he gave Glynda a look, and easily she obliged, standing ahead of Ozpin where she was closer to the window.

"...we'll let Glynda take care of it."

As soon as Ozpin had finished speaking, Tiella saw Glynda re-positioning her glasses once more while waving her riding crop in midair, not unlike what she did to restrain her. Not a second later, a large purple glowing runic circle appeared, slowly rotating clockwise on the other side of the window.

Mesmerized by the glow as she's able to actually appreciate it now that it wasn't aimed at her, she watched in mild awe as another smaller rune of the same structure appeared, rotating slightly faster and the opposite way in front of the first rune.

The Giant Nevermore was fast approaching, already charging with a loud screech, likely to be just a dozen meters away from them at that moment. And it was then that Tiella understood why it was called a giant and why both adults had been alarmed, albeit mildly in Ozpin's case.

During the Giant Nevermore's charge, another much smaller rune appeared in front of the second rune, rotating the same way as the first rune although at a much faster rate. And as soon as the third rune appeared, each rune spun at even faster rates. During said rotation, the largest rune glowed even brighter, and then the second, and then the third.

Instantly after glowing, a large bright purple light shot out of the center of the first rune, which passed through the second rune, causing it to condense, glowing much brighter as a result. And after passing through the last rune, it had condensed down once more to a thin but highly compressed laser and glowed exponentially stronger than it did at its base, piercing through the Giant Nevermore like it was paper.

The extremely bright laser continued rushing forward, reaching dozens of meters beyond, before fading into nothing just as quick as it had appeared, leaving small, bright purple particles behind that danced and flickered in the air, and blinked out of existence shortly.

Tiella's mouth hung agape, not only did she understand why it was called a Giant Nevermore, given its uncanny likeness to a gigantic crow with its wingspan just barely shorter than an average bus, but also because she'd just witnessed an incredible amount of power being summoned and expelled all within a time span no longer than _four seconds_.

Had she not stood behind Glynda and Ozpin, she likely would have been blinded by the light for a short while.

She watched as the Grimm that had a hole blasted through it split apart and evaporate as if vanishing into thin air. She saw Glynda wave her riding crop in a flourish, twirling it in her fingers, and subsequently collapsing it, then sheathing it back to the holster on her right boot.

Still holding her gun forward, though it had been lowered as she wasn't aiming at anything anymore, a loud "Holy _shit!_ " was everything Tiella could think to say after what she saw.

* * *

_"Being honest with them was_ **_probably_ ** _the greatest choice of my life. Probably."_ Tiella thought, sincerely believing that _not_ attacking them like she'd been wanting to do since the beginning was a true lifesaver.

"Right..." she drawled, "I've seen some _pretty_ strong Skill Users before but nothing like _that_ ," she said, still awed by what she witnessed. "So, what drew that thing here?"

Glynda and Ozpin both shared a look between them when they heard the term "Skill Users", though they chose to answer her question first.

"Grimm," Ozpin started, "they are creatures that don't need any form of sustenance to continue existing. They can live for an indefinite amount of time, and grow stronger and wiser with age."

Tiella hummed in thought, wondering how that answered her question.

"They will ignore everything around them, uncaring for the plant and animal life that surrounds them."

"Okay," she said, sitting back down to her chair, noting that her hot cup of very sweet milk already warmed down.

"With the exception of mankind," Ozpin stated matter-of-factly, opting to sit down as Tiella and Glynda did.

"Okay?" she drawled, still unsure how that answered her question.

"Now, what attracted the Grimm to this place, to _us_ in particular," Ozpin took a more serious tone as he spoke, "would be _negativity_."

" _Negativity?_ " Tiella repeated in disbelief.

"Negative emotions, to be precise." he clarified. "Emotions such as anger, resentment..." he said while giving Tiella a look, "... _despair_ ..." then to Glynda "...and _guilt_ ,"

Tiella's eyes widened at his implications while Glynda could only purse her lips and look away, arms crossed in front of her.

"among other similar negative emotions." Ozpin finished, his tone returning to the usual indifference his voice normally carried. He let his words sink, taking the time to grab his mug for a sip.

"Though," he continued, grabbing the attention of both ladies, "this one time was certainly an odd one. I've never seen a lone Grimm purposefully charge into the source of negativity so recklessly, especially since it was within the kingdom's walls."

Ever the fast thinker, Tiella guessed at Ozpin's words, "So you're saying those giant crows don't always just fly above your cities?"

"No, they do not. While young Grimm do tend to be reckless, it is definitely unheard of for any Grimm to enter a kingdom by its lonesome. Even they understand that doing so would end up a fruitless endeavor, just as you had witnessed earlier."

"You saying my little _Pity Party_ was so loud that it just called out to the nearest bastard that felt it?" she asked sharply, hazarding a guess as every oddity so far has been related to her in some way.

"I won't say that that's definitely the case, but it's one of the few reasons that I can think of, yes," Ozpin said, in that ever so stoic expression of his.

She clicked her tongue at his answer and looked away, clearly annoyed. _"Of_ **_course_ ** _it'll be negative fucking emotions..."_ reminded that she herself carried a Skill that was largely related to negative emotions, though it was something she was content to ignore and forget for as long as she doesn't need to use it, even as a last resort. _"Nothing's ever fucking easy."_

"Is that why you're such a stoic bastard? To keep away the Grimm by staying so un-fucking-feeling?" she asked sarcastically.

Not appreciating the sudden verbal assault, Glynda scowled and was about to reprimand Tiella, though before she could...

"Hahahaha!" Ozpin, since the time Tiella met him, and a long time since Glynda last heard, let out an actual laugh. It wasn't a loud laugh, no, but it was a very audible laugh, one that he did not bother to hide. A small smile can be seen on his face, and shortly after his laugh, he wore a wry smile.

"You're not wrong, but it's mostly due to my advanced age." giving Glynda a look that told her that it was fine. "When you reach my age, it becomes hard to be surprised at a lot of things anymore. And that is especially true considering my previous profession as a full-time huntsman and current position as Headmaster."

"Makes sense."

"Which reminds me of our current situation."

At this, Tiella tensed, suddenly remembering that she had no way of returning unless provided by Ozpin.

"I understand very well what it's like to lose a home you can never return to," Ozpin said, a melancholic tone heard in his voice. "I've also experienced what it's like to lose people very dear to me and being forced to acknowledge that I'll never see them again."

He stared intently at her eyes and spoke sincerely, "So I urge you to believe me when I say that I understand."

Glynda's expression softened when she saw the look Ozpin gave to Tiella, reminding her of an earlier time when she knew very little of the man before him.

Tiella can only stare back at Ozpin, searching his eyes for any signs that he was lying or simply patronizing. A short moment later, she broke the silence.

"I'll... be willing to hear you out, at least." arms crossed and close to her person. "Not like I can do anything else, anyway."

"Thank you for trusting me."

"I'm not."

Ozpin can only wryly smile at her. He looked at her figure, arms crossed protectively in front of her, eyes downcast and looking away.

"Very well. Glynda?" he called, "Why don't you go ahead and prepare for your class? And also, do take care of our little situation from before. I'm sure some of our students are feeling a little uneasy about the fact that a Giant Nevermore nearly crashed itself into the school."

Taking it as her cue to give them some privacy, Glynda obliged. "Of course. Have a good day, Professor."

"Thank you, you as well," he said as Glynda bowed her head just outside the room before closing the door.

Tiella remembered that she still had a half-finished cup of _warm_ milk, so immediately she grabbed her cup and took many small sips. Milk always _did_ help her relax, reminding her of a more peaceful, innocent time.

"So? What do you want?"

"I'd like to offer you a scholarship here in Beaco-"

"And be one of your child soldiers? No fucking thanks, please." immediately she interrupted, her anger returning to her.

"Please, do hear me out. I'm afraid that you're misunderstanding what it means to be a Huntsman in this world."

She eyed him critically, thinking back on their past discussions so far. "Fine."

He smiled, glad to see that she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"But make it quick, I'm tired of listening to you speaking so vaguely."

"Of course." he wondered, how many times was she going to force a wry smile on his face?

"Simply speaking, a huntsman is a person looked up to by the people. Defenders of mankind against the darkness that is the Grimm."

"You're saying it like they're heroes."

"It's an apt description, yes."

Tiella, for her part, can only scratch her head in response. "I guess it makes sense to want to see heroes in action if you have black furry cunts wanting to annihilate you and your entire race for feeling sad about ice cream that fell on the pavement."

Another wry smile, "Will you accept then?"

"No." was her immediate answer.

"May I ask why?"

"Two things." she held one finger up, "One, I'm a professional, _not_ a hero." then she held a second finger up, "And two, I _hate_ kids."

"Are you not fairly young yourself? 18 is still just barely stepping into adulthood after all. And I'm sure you'll find people your age here as well."

"Still no."

"May I know the _real_ reason then?"

"..."

"..."

"Fine..." she sighed out, actually embarrassed about the fact, "I've... never had a formal education," she said, eyebrows scrunched together, eyes avoiding Ozpin's gaze.

"I see."

"Yeah, yeah, now you know."

"All the more reason for me to offer you the scholarship."

"Really? Can't you just, I dunno, take no for an answer? That's never gonna make you popular with the ladies, you know?"

He sighed, "Under normal circumstances, I would have taken your first answer easily, as I wish to respect people's choices for the matter." he saw Tiella giving him an angry, pouting look, which he found somewhat adorable despite her sharp eyes.

"Yeah, yeah..." already tired of not having her way.

"I'm truly sorry, but I feel that I must have you near me at the very least."

"You want me on a short leash."

Ozpin didn't answer immediately.

Tiella again weighed the pros and cons of her possible decisions in her mind, _"If I keep saying no, he'll probably force me into staying here as a last resort, blackmail or something, maybe threaten me into submitting. But I just..._ **_really_ ** _don't want to play chummy with a bunch of weaponized horny teens. Is there really no other way? What if I pushed my luck for a bit?"_

She sighed once more, scratching her head before speaking. "I won't accept a scholarship. I don't want to be a student," she gave Ozpin a hard look. "I've learned to make do just fine by getting hired for odd jobs. Bodyguard _this_ , escort _that_ , kill _this_ particular bastard, kill _that_ particular bastard. The works."

While Ozpin's expression hadn't changed, he certainly felt uncomfortable to be reminded that this girl claimed to be a Mercenary.

"So!" she said loudly to break the unnerving stare she got from him just then, "If you want me to stay while still respecting my _so-called wishes_ , why don't you just hire me to do odd jobs for you?" her hand outstretched, her making the offer instead, "That way, I can make a living while you keep me here, tied to you like you want, but without me playing chummy with your kids."

Ozpin looked at her hand, then back to her eyes. Eyes clouded by anxiety.

"If you're willing to accept this..." she continued, "if you're willing to hire me for a job..." she swallowed thickly, "then I'll be... _willing_ to play your game." she finished in a low voice.

_"Everywhere I go, it's my only use."_

Immediately she perked up, "Nothing sexual though!" she said, putting up a casual front and continued, "If you're _that_ itchy, I'm sure there'll be a red light district here and there for you to visit." she said, giving Ozpin a wink and a casual smile.

Ozpin continued to stare at her intently for a few moments longer, a stoic expression betraying none of his thoughts.

"Very well." he finally spoke, "Why don't I hire you as a helper among my Professors? As it is, I'm currently a little understaffed, an example being my assistant, Glynda, handling all Combat classes for all year levels."

"Wow, no wonder she looks like that."

"Yes," he spoke wryly, "well, I would appreciate it greatly if you can make things easier for my Professors by handling some of their smaller matters."

She thought things over for a short moment, sipping her milk that's gone from warm to lukewarm. "Alright, sounds like something I can do. What about my pay?"

"How much do you usually take?"

"Where I come from, I take no smaller than $50,000 per job."

"Dollars...? My apologies, I'm not familiar with this currency. The currency we use here is Lien." he explained, "Taking the number you provided, a 50,000 Lien monthly salary would put you in the upper middle class, all things considered, such as food, housing, and monthly bills for a family of 5, for starters."

"Just about the same then," she said

"I see," Ozpin said, deep in thought. "What if I provided you with free boarding, food, and other daily necessities for free and a 30,000 Lien monthly salary?"

Tiella hummed in thought, _"It's not_ **_that_ ** _bad an offer... but it's a little low compared to what I'm used_ to." she sipped, _"Though the big difference here is it's actual stable income."_

"This, of course, does not include the more... hazardous jobs I will likely put you through."

"Oh?" eyebrow raised.

"Yes, if you are indeed a Mercenary like you claim, it would be a waste to let your skills rust away. I may have to ask you to join some of my _own_ private operations." he finished, one eyebrow raised.

"Right, you said you had enemies."

"That I do."

They were quiet for a moment, Ozpin letting Tiella think things through, taking small sips of his coffee in between.

In Tiella's mind, the implications of her fighting possible Skill Users like Glynda lit a small fire in her heart. _"I get to continue my training for an_ **_actual_ ** _reason, even here. Very interesting."_

She stood, taking the cup of lukewarm milk with her and downed the remaining milk in one swig, leaving a faint white mustache just above her lips before licking them away. She then walked over to Ozpin's desk and extended her hand.

"You've got yourself a deal."

Ozpin smiled at her answer. He stood as well and reached to shake on it.

"I'm very pleased to have you on board, Ms. Margory."

" _'Ms. Margory'?_ Come on, please, no. Ms. Margory was my sister. Tiella is fine."

Ozpin blinked a few times at her implications and gave her a knowing smile. "Very well," they shook hands, sealing the deal, "I'm very pleased to be working with you, Tiella."

"Likewise."

Letting go after one good shake, Ozpin spoke, "For the moment, we currently have no accommodations available for another live-in staff member, so I hope you don't mind living in the student dorms for your first few days."

"Not like I have a choice, do I?"

He gave her another wry smile, "Sadly."

Ozpin checked the time, which was 8:17 am, and immediately called for Glynda on his Scroll.

And not a second longer,

[How may I help you, Professor?] Glynda's voice could be heard.

"Yes, could you show Tiella to one of the vacant student dorm rooms? I've offered her a job." Giving Tiella another look. Noticing the exhausted look on her face and posture. "I'll have another staff member look for proper accommodations for her, but in the meantime, I'd like for her to rest in one of the student dorm rooms."

[...]

"..."

[...]

"Glynda?"

[...of course, Professor. I'll be there in a minute.]

"Thank you, Glynda. That would be all." and disconnected. "Glynda should be here shortly to show you to your room. I'm sure that you're tired, so, please. Do take the day off. I'll have you start tomorrow."

"Okay..." she drawled, exhaustion nearly taking over, "What about my papers? I didn't exactly exist here until an hour ago."

"You don't have to worry about it, I'll take care of everything."

"That's handy."

A knock on the door was heard.

"Ah, yes. That should be Glynda." he said, "Come in." he spoke in a slightly louder voice.

"Good morning, Professor Ozpin, Tiella." Glynda greeted courteously, bowing at them both. "I've found that room 312 by the West Wing Dormitory is currently unoccupied."

"Wonderful."

"Very well," Glynda said. She bowed to Ozpin once more and faced Tiella, her expression the very picture of professionalism, "If you would please follow me, I will show you to your room." already turning around, out of the room.

"Umm... thanks?" Tiella said, feeling a little awkward after everything so far. "Oh! And,"

Glynda paused and looked back, waiting for Tiella to continue.

"I'm sorry for calling you Blondie McHardass."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"None taken." the face of professionalism never breaking, "Let us move along, please. I still have a few classes to prepare for today and I'm already behind schedule." turning around once more, she lead the way out.

Not wanting to be left behind, Tiella hurriedly followed but stopped by the door to address Ozpin. "Also, I'm sorry I called your face fugly, Headmaster!" she said loudly, then shut the door immediately.

Inside the room, Ozpin stood still behind his desk, staring at the closed door, eyes blinking multiple times, and thinking about what a morning it had been. From where he was, he faintly heard Tiella asking Glynda a few questions. Now that he was alone, he fished out a strong bottle of Tequila that he'd been hiding behind one of his desk drawers and added a very generous amount into his coffee, spiking it to the high heavens.

In his own personal opinion, it was going to be a more interesting year from what he first thought with Ruby joining early, but that didn't mean he would _not_ be stressed about it.

* * *

"So..." Tiella started.

"..."

"Today's a school day?"

"As you can obviously see, yes," Glynda responded, re-positioning her glasses correctly.

"What day is it? Actually, no. What's the full date today?" Tiella asked. _"Wow, I never thought I'd be asking that. Even as a joke."_

Glynda paused and turned to face Tiella's casual smile with her own professional look. "It is the 14th day of the 5th month, 1215 AD."

Tiella hummed in thought. _"It was December 6th, 2018 for me just a couple hours ago. God this is so fucking disorienting."_

"How many months do you have in a year?"

"12. We have 365 days a year, all year round." Glynda turned, leading the way once more.

"Almost the same with ours then," Tiella said, holding her chin in thought. "So what's AD stand for? After Death?"

"After Dawn." Glynda corrected, "It marks the dawn of mankind. The beginning of our fight against the Grimm."

"Hmm, poetic."

They were quiet for a moment, so Tiella let her eyes wander around.

She saw students going to and fro, giving Glynda a short greeting as they passed and her a look before returning to what they were doing and where they were going.

She also saw students with animal accessories. _"Are bunny ears a thing around here?"_ she thought, watching a brunette with long bunny ears on her head walking through the beautiful courtyard. _"Looks oddly realistic. I guess a more advanced technology means better cosmetics."_

Another short while later, Glynda finally stopped.

"This here will be your room. Room 312 of the West Wing Dormitory. Please do not forget that."

"Alright."

"And here are your keys." which Tiella graciously accepted.

"Do you have any other questions?" Glynda asked, just realizing that the young girl she'd been talking to was meeting her at eye level, thinking that she likely would have been an inch taller if it weren't for her own heels.

"Yeah, where do I go if I have other questions?"

"There is a staff room on the first floor of this building. Head down there and turn left when facing the exit. A sign should be visible. Staff members are always present there but if you don't find anyone, head to the main building and look for me. I'll be in the Combat classroom."

"Great."

"Will that be all?"

"Are you still mad that I called you Blondie McHa-"

"If that is all then I'll be taking my leave." Glynda hurriedly turned, interrupting Tiella. "I have classes to prepare for and it is only the 2nd day of the school week."

Tiella could only purse her lips at Glynda as she watched her walk away. _"Damn. Guess she's not used to disrespect, huh?"_

Not feeling like standing in the hallways any longer, she keyed the door to her temporary room and stepped in, immediately plopping herself on the nearest bed. _"Four beds, huh. Whatever."_

She let out a long and heavy sigh, letting exhaustion finally take over, face covered by her forearm. _"What a day... and it's not even over. Maybe if I sleep, I'll wake up in the tent with those fucking idiots."_

Still feeling a tad uncomfortable, she groggily removed her weapons and threw them on the other bed.

_"I'm sure they'll be fine without me."_ she thought, trying to convince herself that they don't need her back there, more than anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> Are people still with me?
> 
> I know, I know. The calendar system is a *little* lazy.
> 
> Okay, I lied. It's very lazy. But I just couldn't think of a reason why I shouldn't just do it that way!
> 
> Do let me know!


	3. Chapter 3

_"This little lassie here's name's Tiella. She'll be joining our little Merc group."_

_Gramps..?_

_"Now, why don't ye go on ahead an' introduce yerself. Don't worry, they won't bite."_

_Gramps... I thought you were dead._

_"My name's Tiella..."_

_Wait a second... I'm not the one speaking... A dream? A memory?_

_"...and I wanna be a Mursenery like Gramps!"_

_"Ah'm still young, y'know!"_

_Is this me...? No, was this me?_

_"Wow, you're like,_ **_really_ ** _bad at this. We're the same age but you_ **_suck_ ** _at hand to hand."_

_Karen?_

_"Shut up! Again!"_

_Heh... I always was a sore loser._

_"What the heck? You can't even hit a target just a mile away?"_

_Talk big, Karen. Talk big. You always were the best shot around the camp._

_"Hey now, it's okay. You don't need those chumps. Why don't we go back to training? I know beating you down always cheers me up."_

_Pfft... God, Karen you're such an ass._

_"Chelly, ma'girl. Listen to me close, 'kay?"_

_What? Gramps? Where's Karen? What the hell is happening?_

_"We don't have a lotta time left, so ya gotta listen close, okay? Tell me you're listenin'."_

_Stop._

_"I know I promised to teach y'all 'bout bein' a Merc and makin' ye the best there is but..."_

_No. I don't wanna hear it!_

_"Ya gotta understand that..."_

_Gramps! Just shut up! Stop talking! You're coughing up blood!_

_"Sure is-.. ugh... sure is getting hard to speak, eh? Lemme jus' siddown right 'ere."_

_I told you to shut up!_

_"Ya gotta understand... Ah know ah promised to make ya the best merc in the world, but..."_

_God damn it, old man!_

_"Ya gotta understand... this ain't the only life available to ye... ya got that?"_

_We've talked about this, old man! You don't get to decide for me!_

_"Alrighty? Did ye get that? Did ye hear what I said...?"_

_"Y-Yes..."_

_"Good lassie... Now, why don't ye go on ahead and join Karen? Ah'm sure she's worryin' her butt off not knowin' where ye are."_

_"B-But what about you..?"_

_"Oh don't you worry 'bout that, lassie. I'll handle it. Always have."_

_"Okay..."_

_No, you idiot! Don't just go fuckin' okayin' when it's not! Go back!_

_"I'll see ye'nna bit, just need to rest for a while. Closin' ma' eyes for a quick sec'."_

_Don't close your eyes you stupid, stupid old man!_

_"Hey there!"_

_What? Where the hell am I this time?_

_"You! Miss Tall, Cool, and Broody!"_

_Bardel?_

_"Owww...! Damn, you're one slippery bitch."_

_That's what you get for picking a fight with everyone and everything, you little shit._

_"Hello."_

_Lillianne?_

_"You were moving so well! I started doubting that you're actually my age. Where did you learn to do that?"_

_"...self-taught."_

_"That's amazing! I noticed that that boy had unnatural physical strength and speed. Must be his Skill, don't you think?"_

_"Doesn't matter if it won't hit."_

_"That's true but... those weren't exactly easy to dodge. And I never noticed you using yours."_

_"I don't have one. And all his moves were telephone punches, just get out of the way and you'll be fine."_

_"Ahahaha, that's easier said than done... could you spar with me too? I'd love to learn with you."_

_"Fine."_

_..._

_"Geez, Tielle! You're all bruised up again! You have to be careful. Look, sit here, let me patch you up."_

_"It's just training, Karen. Nothing to get so worked up about."_

_"A splintered fist?"_

_"..."_

_"Your knuckles are still bleeding."_

_"..."_

_"And why do you have a bullet hole on your arm?"_

_"Thanks, 'Mom', but I'll be fine since I have your 'Magic Fingers' to keep me alive."_

_"I just find it worrying that you're using my Healing Skill as an excuse to push yourself like a maniac!"_

_"..."_

_"When was the last time you didn't spend your day off on training?"_

_"Well..."_

_"That's what I thought. No more training for you for the rest of the week!"_

_"...fine."_

_..._

_"Tiella!"_

_..._

_"Tielle!"_

_..._

_"Celeste, my little star. Why don't you join Mommy and Daddy? Let's watch your favorite movie, it's your turn to choose on family night."_

_..._

_"Hey little sis, come on. Your milk's getting cold."_

_..._

_"Sitting on Daddy's lap again? Alright, alright. Daddy's gotcha. You're such a spoiled Daddy's girl."_

_..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

_..._

* * *

 The gentle breeze entered through the open window, softly blowing on the curtains.

A warm beam of sunlight was hitting Tiella's face long enough to rustle her awake.

"...Mommy..."

Groggily, she opened her eyes, blinded by the light that's been hitting her face. Instinctively, she moved her face away, into the shade provided by the walls.

Still on the bed, she blinked her eyes multiple times, blinking the drowsiness away. She sat upright and touched the side of her face.

Tears?

_"It's been a while since that happened."_

"Where...? Ah, right. Another world." she said after checking her surroundings. Then she checked the time, the wall clock showing that it was 2:08 pm. She stood, not bothering to wipe her tears away and walked to where she believed the bathroom was.

_"Good to see I have my own shower."_ she thought, walking towards the sink. She opened the faucet and stood there watching, listening, letting the water flow noisily.

She lowered herself, hands on the sides of the sink, head hung low, and sniffed. She quietly let her tears flow freely as she breathed softly.

For a short while, only the sound of running water can be heard in her room.

Moments later, she washed her face thoroughly. Cool water splashed on her face, courtesy of her hands. Once she's done, she raised her head and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Messy, red hair almost covered her gold eyes, her bed hair always did give her a messy mane. Eyes that were only faintly red at the lids.

She stripped, starting with her Kevlar vest that she opened at the front, then her fingerless tactical gloves. She unbuckled her belt, letting it drop to the shower floor tiles, and unbuttoned her white dress shirt. She sat on the side of the tub and slipped out of her combat boots, unbuckling them first before kicking them off. Her socks were the next to go, followed by her dark tight-fitting military pants that she tucked inside her combat boots.

She stripped off the rest of her clothing, her dress shirt, and sports undies, and stood under the shower head.

She turned it on, cold water raining all over her head, slowly dripping down her long, loose, twin braided hair that reached down to her butt, and she removed her hair ties, throwing them toward the sink.

She raised her head and let the cold water splash on her face for a long while to wake her from the warmth that kept her drowsy.

"Now then... what can I do today?" she asked herself as she turned the shower head off. She searched the room, looking for a dry towel, which luckily was just hanging over one of the hooks on the wall.

She grabbed the towel, briskly drying herself off, starting from her hair, then went down from there. She checked the closet to see if there were available clothes for her to borrow after stepping out of the bathroom. The good news was that there was a small selection for her to choose from, the bad news was that the clothes were the school issued uniforms that she saw the students wearing.

She took a pair of the men's issued pants that were close to her size, the men's issued dress shirt, socks, but still went for her own combat boots. She stood in front of the full body mirror on the closet door and gave herself a once-over. She contemplated wearing the necktie but decided against it, leaving the top two buttons of her shirt open. Afterward, she rolled her sleeves to just above her elbows, showing off her lithe and toned forearms.

_"Not bad."_ she thought, satisfied at her impromptu smart-casual look, she took her hair ties from the sink and did her still slightly damp hair back to a loose twin braid. She gave herself another once-over after doing her hair, then she remembered to grab her gloves to wear.

She checked the clock: 2:35 pm. _"Should I even bring my phone? Whatever, I'll take it. No way to tell the time otherwise."_ she pocketed her phone and keys and walked out of her room, deciding to explore the grounds of her new workplace.

_"Right, where to go fi-"_ her internal monologue was interrupted by a loud growl. In fact, it was so loud that even the nearby students heard it and gave her weird looks. She can only keep a straight face as she blushed, ignoring the looks sent her way. She stiffly hurried away from the hall and went to the first floor in a speed walk. _"Cafeteria it is."_

At the first floor, Tiella went to the nearest student she found and walked over. "Hey kid!" she called out.

A boy with blonde hair and was almost a head shorter than she turned to look for the source of the voice. "Yeah, you!"

Moments later, he found a tall woman waving at him and lightly jogged his way. Confused, he pointed to himself to make sure it really was him that she was calling. "Yes, you," she said as soon as she was standing in front of him.

"I, uh, how may I help you? Ma'am?" he asked, a little nervous that he was speaking to a tall woman who he assumed was a staff member.

"Pfft, _'ma'am'?_ Yeah, no. Name's Tiella." she said, amused at the boy's reaction. "Anyway, I'm new here and I was wondering where the cafeteria is."

"Oh, uh, okay. Tiella." he blinked a couple of times, "Why don't I lead the way?"

"Great! So, I'm not keeping you from anything, _Mr..?_ " she drawled.

"Oh! Uh, right! The name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, _ladies love it!_ "

Tiella, for her part, only looked at the boy called Jaune in amusement, one eyebrow raised.

"W-Why don't we go on ahead? And no, you're not really keeping me from anything. I was just heading there myself."

Tiella hummed in response. "So what year are you in, Jaune? And do you always try to pick up any girl that comes talking to you?"

"I-I'm uh, a 1st year. And, well, I-..."

"What are you gonna do if I end up teaching one of your classes?" she said teasingly.

Jaune's eyes widened and cold sweat formed on the back of his neck.

"I'm just messing with you, chill. I'm a new hire, but I can tell you that I'm not gonna be a professor at least."

Jaune could only let out a dry chuckle after a sigh of relief in response. They walked in silence for a short moment, Tiella was content with it though Jaune felt awkward all the while.

"By the way, Jaune," she called, not really noticing Jaune's slight unease. "is the food in the cafeteria free?"

"Yeah, we don't really have to pay for it. We can just eat whenever we want as long as it's within curfew." he continued, "Pretty generous of them to do that actually, since some of us can eat a whole family's worth after a long day."

"Yeah? How about schoolwork? Nothing too hard? Professors aren't driving you nuts?"

"Nah, not really. I have a little trouble catching up myself, but most of my classmates don't have a problem with it like I do."

She hummed in thought, withdrawing her idea that they were being trained like actual child soldiers. _"Looks like they're able to take it easy like normal kids after all. Almost makes me jealous. Almost."_

Not a moment longer, they reached the front door to the cafeteria.

"That's a big door."

"That's what I thought so too."

"Alright, great. Thanks for showing the way, Jaune. You going to meet up with your friends?"

"Uh, yeah! Yeah..."

"Guess we split here. I'll see ya around, bub." and off she went, not bothering to wait for Jaune's response.

* * *

  _"Thank Oum, she wasn't a professor."_ Jaune thought while walking over to the table where his friends were at.

"There he is!" Nora called as she was the first to see Jaune come close to their table.

At the long table, his team was sitting in the order of Pyrrha, Nora, then Ren with vacant space to Pyrrha's right. And across the same table, Team RWBY could be found as well. Weiss, Ruby, Yang, and Blake in that particular order. All of whom were just starting to dig into their lunch.

Pyrrha put down her spoon to greet Jaune as he sat next to her. Ren was trying to eat his own lunch while at the same time stopping Nora from feeding him too many pancakes.

Weiss was focused on eating her meal, the picture of elegance and grace. Ruby was wolfing down her own meal, likely so she could get to eating her dessert as soon as she could. Blake was holding a fish taco on one hand and a book on the other. Yang was chewing on an apple and was listening to Team JNPR's conversation.

"Something held you up? Here, your food's still warm." Pyrrha asked, ever the doting partner.

"Yeah, but it wasn't much."

" _Wasn't much?_ " Yang chimed in, "I just saw you walk in with a tall redhead bombshell and it _wasn't Pyrrha!_ "

"Wha-" Jaune stuttered.

"Yan-" Pyrrha reacted and nearly spat out her drink.

Yang's team gave her various looks. Ruby was confused, Weiss deadpanned, and Blake just side glanced.

"What? I'm not joking!" Yang said, defending herself. "Look there."

She pointed to where they would order their food from and the entire table occupants followed.

"Is that the one?" Ruby asked, pointing to a girl holding a tray filled with what she believed was hamburgers, sliders, and hotdogs.

Weiss saw her as well, though her expression was that of indifference. _"She's quite tall. And that's a lot of carbs."_

"She _is_ tall," Blake commented nonchalantly after seeing the girl for herself.

"Wow! Do you guys think she's taller than Goodwitch?" Nora chimed in.

"It's a possibility," Ren responded.

" _See?_ " Yang said, smirk proudly plastered on her face.

They watched said girl turn her head a few times, likely in search of a vacant spot. A few seconds later, Yang had a thought.

"Hey Jaune!" she called, "Why don't you try inviting her here? We've got space."

"Uh, well... sure, I guess? If it's okay with you guys?" he said as he looked around, finding non-verbal agreement from his friends.

"Grea-"

"Ow, that hurts!"

Whatever Yang was going to say had been interrupted when they all heard the pained yell of a girl just a few tables away. They also heard the sound of boys laughing, which they saw was at her expense.

"Please, stop..." the girl nearly cried.

Everyone at the table was fuming, even Weiss who still tried to keep her cool expression. Nora energetically suggested breaking his legs, while Blake was glaring at the boys with pure indignation.

"I told you it was real." one of the boys said while pulling on said girl's rabbit ears.

"What a freak." another one commented.

The boy was about to let go of the poor girl's rabbit ears but was interrupted,

"Hey, boys! Mind if I join?" by a sudden smash to his head that instantly knocked him out.

* * *

  _Going back a few minutes ago..._

_"Could they be any louder?"_ Tiella thought to herself.

Just a short moment after she split from Jaune, she heard the sound of a girl yelling and it made her turn her head to look. She saw that the loud girl was addressing Jaune.

_"His friends, then?"_ and whether she liked it or not, their rather energetic conversation can be heard even from her side of the cafeteria. So she was a little curious about what about her they were talking about.

_"Whatever, I just hope they don't get me caught up in their noise."_

She tried to ignore the loud kids and made her order. "Hey there, I'll have this cheeseburger, this slider, and this hotdog. 2 of each."

The cafeteria lady looked at her oddly but nonetheless prepared her order. "Any drinks?"

"Oh right, I'll have a glass of iced water and a tall glass of sweet milk, thanks," she said giving the lady a casual smile. The cafeteria lady just sent her odd looks though, but still did as ordered.

"Here ya go."

"Right, thanks!"

As soon as she got everything balanced on her tray, she turned around and walked slowly, looking for a vacant seat. She noticed that Jaune's table of friends was looking at her but she just ignored them. She also noticed that Jaune's table had a few good vacant spots but still searched for any seat that was closer to where she stood.

"Ow, that hurts!"

_"That's one way to tell everyone you're a cunt."_ She thought as she watched the bullying that was happening with a nonchalant look. _"What the hell? Those weren't accessories? No one told me there'd be animal-people here."_ she hummed in thought. She'll have to ask Glynda about it later.

She watched the scene a little longer and felt absolutely no pity for the girl. _"I thought this was a warrior school. Guess you'll find girls like that everywhere you go."_

She was going to ignore what was happening, thinking that it was none of her business what these horny kids did with their lives, but she just remembered that she was just very recently hired.

_"Maybe it's my business after all?"_ she thought and walked over to a table and placed all her food there. Ignoring the angry and confused looks she received from the table occupants, she said, "Don't touch em, alright? I'll be right back."

_"And I'm still a little pissed that I couldn't get back at Glynda. This should be good."_

She walked off, tray spinning atop her finger, and went for the direction of the bullying.

"Please, stop..." the poor girl said, nearly in tears.

Soon as she was behind the boys, she tossed her tray in the air and caught their attention, "Hey boys! Mind if I join?" she spoke, tone quite casual.

As soon as she finished speaking, she caught her tray, held it with both hands and swung at the back of the bully's head, as if she was playing baseball, knocking the boy almost instantly.

"What the-?"

"Whoah!"

"You wanna bully?" she spoke, tone still casual. "I'll show you _bullying,_ " she smirked.

She grabbed the unconscious boy by his left arm and pulled him up with all her strength. Once the boy was in the air, she spun him around, much as a pizza maker would to pizza dough, and started swinging at the other boys that had been laughing at the girl with said unconscious boy.

"Come on! Come on!" she yelled in pure glee, "Show me what you got you fucking tykes!"

"Shit! Let Cardin go, you crazy bitch!"

The other boys, unprepared for the sudden assault, couldn't even defend themselves in time as they got hit by their friend multiple times.

She hit the boy with the Mohawk hard enough to send him skidding across the floor which made Tiella laugh maniacally. "THIS IS HOW YOU BULLY SOMEONE, YOU FUCKING AMATEURS!" and continued doing so all the while hitting their heads with another head, even ramming another boy in the face with said head. "GET ON MY LEVEL YOU FILTHY SACKS OF SHIT!"

She continued swinging said unconscious boy for another few seconds before noticing that all the other boys were already unconscious or just groaning on the floor unable to move. She shrugged her shoulders and put the boy she'd been swinging on her shoulder like an invalid, then threw him on the floor like a sack of rice.

"Well," she spoke, dusting her gloves off. She noticed that everyone in the entire cafeteria was looking at her and that some _'Scrolls'_ were out in the open, pointed at her. It was likely that they were capturing the scene for posterity. "that was good while it lasted."

She heard a few chuckles from the students in the background, but other than that, most of them were just staring in shock or wide-eyed anticipation of what she would be doing next. She eyed the rabbit girl who was on the floor a couple of meters away from her, then checked the unconscious boy for any serious injuries.

_"Oh, I popped his shoulder off. Nice."_ she thought after copping his shoulder to feel for any dislocation, which there was. _"Should be an easy fix."_ She sat the boy upright, his unhurt shoulder leaning on the table. She clasped her hands together tightly and immediately she hammered the unconscious boy's shoulder back into place. A loud popping sound resounded in the mostly quiet dining hall.

A distant _"Oh my god!"_ was heard before a plopping sound of clinking tableware followed after.

"There we go, good as new," she said, mostly to herself, unaware that she'd just unnerved most of the student body in her immediate vicinity. She also checked the boy's head for any blood, which thankfully was not there, odd as it was for her.

Tiella stood, admiring her work, and walked over to the bunny girl. As soon as she stood in front of her, she offered a hand to help her up, which the girl graciously accepted.

"Thank yo-"

Tiella then pulled the girl into her more forcefully, bringing the girl's face past hers, just above her own shoulder and spoke in a very low whisper, the casual and gleeful tone that she had earlier had gone and disappeared, replaced by a lower, colder, and harsher tone that sent the girl's spine-tingling.

"From what I understand, this is a warrior school," she said, eyes sharply looking beyond the girl. "No one's going to take you seriously if you keep taking shit like _that_ from _assholes_ like _those_."

Tiella pulled back, moving away from the girl, with a casual smile back on her face. She extended her hand and said, "My name's Tiella, a new hire."

And the surrounding students bubbled into low murmurs, spreading gossip of a new hire, a possible new professor, or maybe even a member of Beacon Security.

The girl was still in shock of what she'd heard from her just then, wondering if the voice she heard was really from the girl who was speaking to her. "T-Thank you... I'm... I'm Velvet." and Velvet shook the hand that was extended demurely.

"Well, Velvet," Tiella let go of her hand after one firm shake. "I'll be going now. I'm very hungry. I also won't be helping you next time, so... see ya."

Velvet watched as the new hire, Tiella, walked back to a table with her tray in hand, retrieving what she believed was her food, and then headed outside the cafeteria.

* * *

 "Holy _crap_ , Jaune! Seriously, who was that!?"

Yang was the first to break their table's silence after watching the spectacle from before. The rabbit girl was still standing where she was, staring at the door Tiella'd used to leave.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled, giving her big sister a disapproving look for swearing.

"Sorry, Ruby but that was just, _SO_ awesome!"

"H-Huh?" Jaune said after being shaken from his reverie by Yang. "R-Right, she said she was a new hire."

"So she's a professor!?" Nora chimed in, clearly excited at the thought that someone so _'badass'_ was going to be teaching their classes. "Oh, I wonder if she's a new combat instructor? She's gonna be so great, and I'm so excited, and Cardin really, _really,_ **_really_ **got what was coming for him!"

"Nora, please," Ren said, trying to get Nora to calm down, which doesn't usually work.

"And look!" she continued, both arms presenting the scene before them, "I didn't have to break his legs! She already broke him _for_ you!"

And instantly the entire table remembered the loud popping sound from before that sent shivers down their spine.

Shaking himself off the shivering, Jaune corrected her. "No, Nora. She said that she was a new hire but that she wasn't going to be a professor."

"Oh..." Nora said, visibly deflated. "But she could also be Beacon's new Head of Security! That would be _SO_ awesome too!"

"Well, she never really said what her job was but I guess that's probably it?" Jaune said, returning to his own meal.

"How come you know all this?" Pyrrha asked, a little curious how Jaune learned about the girl.

Jaune swallowed his food before he spoke, "I was just heading this way from the dorms until she called out to me from behind and asked where the cafeteria was. I said I'd just lead her here since it's where I was going, anyway. We sort of just talked on the way here to pass the time."

"Well whatever her job is gonna be, I already like her!" Yang chimed, happy about a new staff member that wasn't so boring in her books. "And it looks like she's close to our age!" she said before taking another bite off her apple. "Though she's probably a little older than us."

"That's true, I wonder where she went off?" Blake asked, more to herself, though everybody on the table heard it.

" _Oh?_ What's this? Did our Blakey find a new crush in the form of a tall redhead that isn't Pyrrha?" Yang teased, earning a little glare from her partner. "Why not Pyrrha, hmm? Do you like em _taaaaller?_ "

"No, Yang. Just wondering." decidedly ignoring Yang's teasing with all her might.

Pyrrha, for her part, only smiled wryly and scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

"It's okay, Blake. I understand." Yang gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "No need to feel guilty about it, we can tell that she's pretty hot even from here. Right, Weiss?"

"Don't you _dare_ bring me into this, Xiao Long." Weiss quickly replied.

"Aaawe is Wittle Weissy jealous because she has rivals?"

"I will **_stab_ ** you."

"Any time, Weiss. _Any time._ " and Yang sent her a wink. "Though I'd prefer it more if we're... _alone_."

"You're _insufferable!_ " Weiss said in frustration, nearly yelling.

"Yaaang! Stop teasing my partner!" Ruby chimed in while elbowing her sister lightly on the side.

"Okay, okay," Yang said, finally relenting.

Shortly after, they shared a good laugh and returned to finish their meals.

"She really _IS_ pretty hot though," Yang said after taking her last bite of her apple. "Did you say she called out to you from behind while you were still at the dorms?"

* * *

 Tiella was in front of her room, holding her tray filled with meat and buns, and her drinks, with one hand. She held one burger in her mouth and used her free hand to fetch her keys to open the door.

Upon entering, she tossed the keys to a nearby desk and plopped down on the nearest bed and placed the tray beside her, just barely spilling her drinks.

_"I wonder if I did too much."_ she thought, done with the burgers and already homing in on the sliders. _"Eh, probably not. It's a warrior school."_

She brought her tray closer to the window where she sat and gazed at the scenery from her third storey window.

_"The place looks nice, gotta say. When I thought that this was a warrior school, I expected large training fields with shit tonnes of equipment all around the courtyard or something. Didn't think it'd be some castle in the sky, fountains and statues and all that fancy shit."_

She reached for her tray for another, but couldn't grab anything. She looked back on her tray and found that only a lone hotdog was left of her food and that it was on the far side of the tray. _"Pretty good stuff all in all. I might like it here."_

She continued gazing outside, contemplating once more on what it means to be here for her.

_"They probably won't care if I'm gone, will they?"_

She glugged her ice cold water down fast, then grabbed her tall glass of milk and sipped it sparingly.

_"I mean, if you take away Bardel's clumsiness, he'd be pretty reliable. If you ignore his temper at least."_

Sip.

_"And he has Lillianne with him. She can pretty much take care of everything. She's only the most talented person I know anyway, though a little naive and inexperienced."_

Sip.

_"I bet if you gave her enough time, she'd be a literal jack of all trades, master of all."_

Sip.

_"Even considering the state of the entire goddamn planet, what with everyone trying to one-up each other with their fucking Skills. It's like one of those Dystopias Karen loves reading about."_

She sighed. "Skills... huh?"

"I wonder..." she said softly, _"I never liked my Skill, and probably never will, but..."_

Sip.

Knock, knock.

_"...but what if it's because I rarely use it that I lack the control over it..."_

Sip.

Knock, knock, knock.

_"...which ended up leaking out just enough to attract one of em my way during my little pity party?"_

Sip.

"Maybe I should tell Ozpin about it?"

"Tell Ozpin what, exactly?"

"Gah!" Tiella turned sharply, nearly spilling her half empty glass of milk. There she saw Glynda, arms crossed in front of her, scowl on her face.

"Professor Goodwitch! Jesus Christ, don't you know how to knock?"

"I did. 5 times, in fact."

"O-Oh. Sorry about that, I was just thinking..."

"I can see that."

"Well, whatever. What'd you need me for?"

"I heard about the incident in the cafeteria earlier."

"Am I in trouble?"

Glynda's immediate response was to re-position her glasses, answering a short while later. "Is there something still troubling you?"

"Huh?" Tiella asked, a little dumbfounded that Glynda of all people would possibly show concern. "Is that concern for me I'm hearing from you?" she asked teasingly.

"Just answer."

"No jokes, gotcha."

Tiella looked back outside, below where the students walked under the shade of the trees. She heard the door shut behind Glynda.

"Just thinking about my old team."

"I see," Glynda said. Still standing by the door, she asked, "Your team... can you tell me more about them?"

Tiella turned her head to face Glynda and saw the look in her eyes, dropping the mask she normally wore.

"I guess you're actually concerned, huh? Thanks."

"For better or for worse, you're our-.. _my_ ally now." Glynda started, "So it's only natural that I try to understand you, even if only for a little bit."

Tiella smiled at the thought, taking another small sip of her milk.

"Sure, I can tell you about them. Why don't you take a seat? Choose the bed or the chair, I don't really care, just sit."

She heard the sound of the chair legs lightly scraping against the floor and returned to watching the outside.

"Let's see... where do I start?"

"What was your team like?"

"What were we like?" she thought back, "Well, in a word..."

"..."

"Reckless."

"Reckless?"

"Yup." popping the 'p' sound at the end. "We were a trio and we would always argue. Always trying to one-up each other during our missions. Each one acting like the team leader. So you can imagine the kind of trouble we could have easily avoided by thinking rationally and acting like an actual team."

"Stupid, more like."

"Hahaha! You're right! We _were_ pretty goddamned stupid."

"..."

"Bardel, the guy that put me here, really _is_ just a clumsy fuck. So, while I'm really honestly angry at him, I can't rightly blame him for it. Not 100% at least."

"..."

"He would always charge in without thinking—moving without stopping for a second to even _think_ about the consequences. There was this one time he straight up sent a man flying through a thick brick wall because—as he tried to explain—he _'felt a really fucking strong urge to stay alive!'_."

"..."

"Sure the man wasn't exactly _human_ but—holy shit, if it actually had been a civilian man? That'd have been a whole other world of problems."

"He sounds like a handful."

"He's also a loud pain in the ass." she sipped. "But he's always the first to arrive when someone requests back up. Always ready for a fight, always raring to go... And always had my back at the right moments."

"I see... what about your other teammate?"

"Lillianne? She's probably the most gifted human being I've ever known to date. This includes all the possible geniuses in my world's history."

"Truly?"

"Mmhmm." she sipped, "She was a _fast_ learner. What a master learned in a year she could learn in a week. What said master perfected in his lifetime, she perfected in _6 months._ "

"That's... preposterous."

"I know, I wouldn't believe it too if I didn't know her personally... and even then, she wasn't using her own personal Skill."

"Skill?"

"Yup. It's a little similar to that power of yours. Though, like I said before, I've never seen anything so extravagant and flashy like that laser you shot out."

"I see."

"How did you do it anyway? I thought your Skill was telekinesis or something, but then you pull off that laser shit outta nowhere."

"Well, you're right about it being Telekinesis. I did it by collecting a large amount of the surrounding air into one point and coated it in my Aura—hence, the glowing. Then, I used glyphs to manipulate it further, compressing it after every layer passed through while adding spin to raise its temperature significantly before shooting it out like a plasma cannon."

"That's so fucking _metal._ "

"I... umm... thank you?"

"What's Aura, by the way? I heard you mention it a few times before. And dust, I think? Is dust here also different from what I think it is?"

Glynda didn't answer immediately, thinking deep in thought. Tiella was content with waiting, sipping on her glass of milk.

"Aura is the manifestation of our Soul. It is an outward projection that protects the body from harm. It can enhance our physical capabilities exponentially and can heal some fatal wounds that should leave any normal man crippled for life in months at most."

"Wow... and everyone here has that?"

"There are varying degrees to the amount of each person's Aura, but yes. And that is only the basics."

"Oh, so, there's more to it?" Tiella turned her body to face Glynda directly, a sure sign that she was clearly interested.

"Yes. Once an individual has reached a certain mastery over their Aura, along with various other circumstances, their Semblance can be unlocked."

"Semblance?"

"Yes. In simpler words, it is a technique unique to the individual. Some Semblances can make a person become so blindingly fast that it is practically no different from short distance teleportation. However, there are cases where a Semblance can be passed down through a family."

"So in rare cases, they can be hereditary? Sounds nifty."

"Indeed."

"You said something about various circumstances?"

"Correct, not everyone shared the same conditions when unlocking their Semblance. Some would be under extreme pressure at the time, some would be one foot into death's door already, some would be under extreme emotional circumstances."

"Sounds like it's very... _extreme_ , you could say."

"Yes, yes."

"Hahaha!" Tiella laughed, not expecting Glynda to react to a joke at all, dumb as it was. "By the by, not that I'm hating your company and all but are you sure it's fine for you to be staying with me for so long? Finished with your school work?"

"Yes, I've finished most of my work for today, and I'm currently on my 2-hour break, until my next class. Which should be in... a little under an hour."

"That's good to know."

"May I ask you a question?"

"You already have, haven't you?"

"...yes."

"So, shoot."

"What is this "Skill" you keep mentioning. Is it something like a Semblance?"

"Hmm..." Tiella paused and held her chin in thought, not really sure how to clearly explain it. "It's... sort of like a Semblance? But probably also a lot different? I guess?"

"You're not sure?"

"Yeah, well, Skills weren't really a thing up until 8 months ago where I was from. They just… suddenly popped up from one person to another and fucked the whole world up in all possible angles you can think of."

"That's... hard to imagine."

"I know, my head hurts just thinking about it."

"What are Skills like?"

"It's different from person to person just like a Semblance in that sense. An example would be Bardel's Skill."

"Bardel's?"

"Yup. His physical strength and speed shoot up like a fucking rocket, making him capable of throwing a bus one-handed like it was weightless."

"That's quite amazing."

"Yeah, it is. It has its drawbacks, though. From what I can remember, the strength he gets is directly proportional to his _'motivation to win'_ , or so our scientists said."

"Odd."

"It is. There's also the drawback that he turns into a vegetable the more strength he draws. He once slept like a log for a week after using his Skill so much."

"So, it's not always so good to draw too much."

"Yup."

"What about you?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you have a Skill too?"

Tiella paused and swallowed thickly. This was the moment of truth for her. Revealing the possible nature of her Skill to Glynda would lead to Ozpin knowing. And it could make or break what they do with her here.

"I..."

"Ms. Margory?"

_"Should I be just honest like I always have with them? Would they even be willing to understand?"_

Glynda saw Tiella breaking into a cold sweat with a very tense expression on her face. _"Is there something she's not willing to tell us?"_

"I..."


	4. Chapter 4

_ [THIS IS HOW YOU BULLY SOMEONE, YOU FUCKING AMATEURS!] _

_ [Gah!] _

_ [My back!] _

_ [GET ON MY LEVEL YOU FILTHY SACKS OF SHIT!] _

"The new girl just..."

"...beat some students..."

"...with another student?"

"What?"

"Professor Goodwitch, where did you find this girl?"

The professors were taking their break in the main building's staff room and had been watching a live feed of the happenings in the cafeteria through a scroll. Professor Peach had been the first to notice what was happening, starting from the bullying of the Faunus girl. As soon as she saw the new girl walk up from behind with an empty tray, she called the other professors' attention and was surprised to see how she struck the bully's head, instantly knocking him out.

"Uh... guys, I think she just popped back the poor boy's dislocated arm in place with a hammer fist."

"That was certainly an unnerving sound."

"Professor Goodwitch?"

Glynda was watching the feed with a deadpan stare.  _ "It's not even her actual first day yet and she's already made a name for herself among the students." _

Glynda sighed after seeing Tiella leave the building and answered, "She is Celestiella V. Margory, but she prefers to be called Tiella by everyone. And according to Ozpin, she's the daughter of a distant relative of his. She came from the more dangerous parts of Atlas and wanted to find work here in Vale, so Ozpin offered her a position as our assistant." hoping to tell Ozpin to play along with her version of Tiella's impromptu backstory later on.

" _ Our _ assistant? What do you mean exactly?" Professor Port asked, very curious about the girl who looked no older than half of their students.

"In other words, Ozpin proposed that she work here to help us, the professors, with our smaller tasks." Glynda further clarified. "You're free to ask her to join you in your Grimm hunts to capture live Grimm for your classes," she said as she looked at Port.

"You're also free to ask her to be your assistant in your shorter expeditions." giving Dr. Oobleck a look.

"And even to be an...  _ "assistant" _ in one of your Dust experiments." and finally, to Peach.

Collective Oohs and Aahs were heard, glad to know that they can finally ask someone for help with their matters and were very excited to put her to work already.

"However," Glynda cut through their minor celebration with a more serious tone. "I believe that you all must know that she's an actual professional already. She is a mercenary with at least 7 years under her belt,  _ not _ a huntress-in-training. So, do remember not to treat her like our students." she said as she re-positioned her glasses.

"A mercenary?" Port asked.

"7 years?" Peach repeated, a little worried about. "Just how old is she, Professor?"

"She's 18," Glynda spoke calmly though she couldn't completely stop herself from sounding uncomfortable from the fact. "And I feel that her true profession should be kept from the students. They simply don't need to know." she finished.

"I see..." Peach said, uneasy about the new girl's supposed history.

"That certainly explains the sharp tongue," Port commented, arms akimbo.

"Nonetheless! I'm sure I can find a lot of work for her just lying around in my office!" Dr. Oobleck chimed in.

Seeing the somewhat worried look on Glynda's face, "We'll be sure to treat her like a comrade, Glynda." Port spoke up, reassuring her that they won't be so quick to judge. "Any ally of Ozpin is an ally of mine as well! I say we give her a warm welcome!" he finished in his usual friendly and boisterous manner.

A sigh escaped Glynda, relieved to see that her co-workers were willing to work with Tiella, though she never truly doubted.

"Professors, I'll be speaking to Ms. Margory about this incident, have a good day."

"Thank you, Professor, you as well." was Peach's reply.

As Glynda stepped out and shut the door behind her,

"I wonder how well she can hold her liquor?" was what she heard from one of the professors, likely Port, and all she could do was shake her head in an attempt to shake off her worries.

* * *

Glynda stood in front of Tiella's temporary room, checking the number to confirm if she got it right. She knocked twice and waited a few seconds for an answer. Hearing nothing, she knocked an additional three times and waited a little longer. Wondering if she was even in the room in the first place, she handled the doorknob and gave it a small twist, a little surprised to see that it was unlocked.

She opened the door slightly and peered to see if anyone was inside.

_ So she's here after all. _

There she saw Tiella sitting by the window, food tray on one of the beds close to her. She was looking outside below and was surprised to see that Tiella had a solemn look on her face, sipping milk.

_ I suppose maturity came to her as experience, not as age as most people normally would. Just what is she thinking of? _

_ "Maybe I should tell Ozpin about it?"  _ she heard her say to herself.

_ "Tell Ozpin what, exactly?" _

_... _

_ "Hahaha! You're right! We  _ **_were_ ** _ pretty god damned stupid." _

_ It's surprising... I didn't expect a somewhat pleasant conversation with her of all people. _

_... _

_ "What about you?" _

_ "Hmm?" _

_ "Do you have a Skill too?" _

* * *

"Ms. Margory?" Glynda called out once more after seeing the unease in Tiella's expression.  _ "What are you hiding..?" _

"You're going to tell Ozpin too, aren't you?" Tiella asked, anxious eyes downcast, as if ashamed of what she was holding in.  _ "If I lied to her now, it's likely that she'll know instantly." _

"...that's right," Glynda spoke, the scowl she normally wore returning.

"I..." Tiella's eyes darted around the room as if searching for a way to escape. "...I do," she said before pursing her lips, still not meeting Glynda in the eyes.

"Can you tell me?"

"I can't."

"And why is that?" Glynda asked, a sharp look on her face. "You've been fairly honest with us so far. Is there a personal reason you can't tell me, tell anyone?"

"...yes."

"I see."

There was silence between them for a long time. Glynda was contemplating what to do, and what possible reason she could think of as to why Tiella was so unwilling to spill.

Only the ambient sound of the wind blowing at the nearby trees and the students below could be heard by either of them. More minutes passed until someone spoke, breaking the silence.

"Is that the reason for the Giant Nevermore's attack this morning?" Glynda spoke coldly while re-positioning her glasses.

Tiella, for her part, could not immediately speak. She swallowed hard and thickly. "It's what I think so too, yes," she said, eyes still downcast.

"I see." was Glynda's only reply.  _ "In short, there's a very real possibility of her being a safety hazard to everyone at Beacon if that's truly the case." _

Tiella heard the sound of chair legs slightly scraping the wooden floor followed by sounds of footsteps that came closer and closer.

"What exactly  _ is _ your Skill?" she heard Glynda ask, not really seeing her expression as her eyes were still on the floor. She was quiet for a short time before finally speaking.

"It's..." she spoke and licked her lips in anxiousness. She then shook her head once and continued, "It's the ability to weaken, draining them of their strength and stamina."

Tiella did not see, but Glynda's eyes widened at the thought of an incredibly powerful asset to Ozpin's side of the war. But then she also remembered that Skills had drawbacks, unlike Semblances, as well.

So she asked, "And it's drawbacks?"

"The effects grow stronger the more I hate."

They were both quiet for a moment before once more Tiella continued.

"I've never used it willingly and I only ever used it twice," she spoke, head hung low. "The first time was when I first received it 8 months ago. I left my entire mercenary group passed out for days at our headquarters. Every single one of them was very weak. I had to nurse them all back to health for the entire duration, all 7 of them. I couldn't control it... and I was very confused."

"..."

"I remember being angry at the time. I wanted so badly to retrieve Gramps' dog tag, but the guys wouldn't let me. Telling me that I'll never find it under all the rubble."

"..."

"So I hated it. I hated them from trying to stop me, and I hated myself even more for leaving Gramps behind."

"..."

"The second time was around 4 months after I left my merc group."

"..."

"I was with my old team, Lillianne and Bardel, and we were scouting the ruins of an old castle keep hidden deep within a dense forest to make sure it was safe for the archaeologists to explore without a lot of worries. That was when and where the story I told you about Bardel happened."

"I remember."

"Right, so after sending the man flying, he stood back up like nothing happened, then he chases after us. Probably to kill us for attacking him unprovoked or something, I still don't know."

"..."

"We tried to fight back of course, but that... that  _ monster _ ... he just wouldn't stay down! I used everything I had, all my ammo, all my 'nades, I went as far as hand to hand as soon as I realized throwing things at him wouldn't work. All the tactics I could think of. Nothing. The bastard just... he didn't even have a scratch on him!"

"..."

"During the fight, Lillianne got heavily injured. She had a hole that went right through her left chest, just slightly above her heart. She also had deep punctures on her stomach and a ton of cuts on her limbs. Not to mention bruises all over."

"..."

"Then Bardel. The bastard..." she spoke, dry chuckling at the memory. "He kept going at him. He shattered his fists up to his  _ god damned forearms _ trying  _ so hard _ to just knock him out. When that didn't work, he tried with his legs. Luckily he didn't have the time to break them because he was sent flying by an uppercut that shattered his jaw and instantly knocked him unconscious."

"..."

"So... what was I supposed to do? Let my team die? I'm a professional, if word came out that I'm the type of gal that can let her teammates die just to save her own ass spread, I'd have a harder time finding work just about anywhere."

"..."

"Anyway, I was the most lightly injured, just a bloody face with a hole or 2 on the abdomen, and a sprained ankle, nothing too restraining. The only thing I could think to do to get all of us out of there alive was to ask Lillianne to carry Bardel and run as far away as she can to leave the fucking monster to me..."

"You didn't want them to get caught up in the effects of your Skill."

"I didn't, so I bought time. Enough for them to get far. And after that, I let loose, not knowing any other way to use it."

"...what happened?"

She scoffed at her memory, "I got him weak enough after exposing him to my Skill for  _ hours _ . When it came to a point where he couldn't even move a finger, I threw him down the even more destroyed ruins, then collapsed the entire thing on him with the rest of my explosives, I doubted that it would kill him, but I hoped that it would be enough to keep him down long enough for us to leave. After that, we won and we lived."

"...but?"

"Yeah... but." Tiella finally raised her head to meet Glynda's eyes. "At what cost, right?"

Glynda saw Tiella's broken expression and her hard scowl nearly melted away.

"All the nearby plants and animals were an inch to their  _ fucking _ deaths." she spat. "But what do I care about some crummy plants and animals? No, I don't give a shit about them. Never have, never will."

"..."

"What I care about is what this... this fucking  _ 'power' _ makes of me!"

"..."

"Don't you see!?" Tiella stood and yelled, emotional as she was with tears welling in her eyes, grabbing Glynda by the shoulders who did nothing to stop her. "I already lost my home too many times already! So when I heard that those fucking Grimm assholes were attracted to  _ negativity _ in this new world I'm  _ forced _ to stay in like it was God's idea of god awful  _ prank _ , I got fucking scared!"

Her hands were trembling as she held onto Glynda's shoulders. She hung her head again, "I got scared, thinking... 'what if those guys got attracted to me, because I couldn't control my stinking  _ curse _ and leaked out a bit just 'cause I was a little emotional?' and that you'll leave me alone after finding out..."

Glynda could say nothing. She could only stare back at the distraught child, carefully holding on to her, as if for dear life.

"What kind of _sick cunt_ **_am_** **_I_** to be _'gifted'_ such a Skill by _the fucking Gods?_ "

No one spoke for a while inside the room and nothing could be heard. Nothing but the sound of Tiella's quiet sobbing was heard.

_ "Why must you cry like this?"  _ Glynda thought as she held the broken girl in her arms and pulled her closer. Solemnly, she looked outside her window.  _ "As if you're not allowed to?" _

They stood holding each other for a long time and unbeknownst to them, sometime soon after Tiella'd begun yelling, one of the room's walls had grown ears.

* * *

**_—3:16 pm, Room 312, West Wing Dormitory_ **

"...I'm sorry you had to see that," Tiella said still sobering up from inside the bathroom where running water could be heard.

"It was certainly quite the sight. I never expected something like  _ that _ from  _ you _ of all people." Glynda said, sitting back on her chair from before.

"Wha-" she spoke hurriedly and peeked from the door of the bathroom, eyeing Glynda critically, eyes quite red at the lids and a little puffed as well. "Are you  _ actually _ teasing me?"

"Perhaps," Glynda replied, sending Tiella the tiniest of her smirks.

"I'm not even mad." she said, "Honestly, I thought you didn't have it in you."

"Because I'm Blondie McHardass?" Glynda asked, one eyebrow raised.

" _ Yyyyeees...? _ " Tiella said, unsurely nodding her head and avoiding eye contact, not knowing how to react.

"I'll have you know that I was once a child  _ too _ , Ms. Margory."

Tiella gasped exaggeratedly, " _ You too? _ "

"Why, yes. Me too." Glynda replied, giving Tiella her own cheeky smile.

They looked at each other for a few seconds then both erupted in laughter, Tiella being a little louder. After a good laugh, Tiella went back inside the bathroom to wash her face one last time before turning the faucet off.

"Thanks," she said softly, but still audible enough for Glynda to hear from the other room.

"I've said so before. You're  _ my _ ally now. You'll find more as you spend your time here in Beacon, that I can assure you." Glynda said while looking at the open bathroom door. "I've also had my fair share of distraught children bawling their eyes out, you know? I am both an educator and a huntress, after all."

"You're never gonna let me live that down are you?"

"No, I don't believe I will," Glynda said smugly.

"Don't you have a class to teach,  _ Professor? _ "

"Why, yes I do."

"Wouldn't want our  _ esteemed educator _ and  _ Huntress _ to be late and set a bad example now, would we?"

Glynda chuckled, it's been a while since she last remembered to be in a good, lighthearted mood. She checked her wristwatch for the time: 3:22 pm. She still had a little over 30 minutes until her next class, but she understood well enough where Tiella was getting at.

"No, no we don't," she replied curtly.

"So, get going!" Tiella peeked from the bathroom door once more and stuck out her tongue.

Glynda put her hands on her thighs and stood. "Very well," she said, the smile still on her face. She walked towards the door then called out to Tiella once more, her expression softened. "I'll be speaking with Ozpin about you later on."

"Okay." was all Glynda heard from Tiella who was back to being inside the bathroom.

"And Ms. Margory?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember, you're my ally now. You don't have to worry about us leaving you alone. About  _ me _ leaving you alone."

There was a pause for a bit until Tiella spoke again. "It's Tiella."

"Hmm?"

"Call me Tiella. And I'll call you Glynda."

"Very well then, Tiella. Have a good day." and Glynda left the room, shutting the door behind her.

As soon as Tiella heard the door shut, she let out a small sigh of relief.  _ "Oh thank Lady Luck." _

She thought back to what just happened and couldn't help but turn red as a tomato in embarrassment.  _ "What the  _ **_fuck_ ** _ did I just do!?" _ she screamed internally, hiding her face from no one in particular with both her hands.

_ "Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my gooood! I can't believe I let out to some hot milf I met just this morning!"  _ she sighed and facepalmed hard. She thought back to Glynda's teasing smile and turned even redder.  _ "And she's never gonna let me live it down!" _

"This is worse than the time I got drunk at a strip joint. Oh my god..."

Not knowing what to do for the rest of the day, she chose to stay in her room, doing nothing.

* * *

"Hey, Yang! Where've you been?" Ruby asked as soon as she saw her sister come into their room.

Most of Team RWBY was spending the rest of their afternoon inside their dorm with each member doing different things. Ruby was on one of the desks doing her homework with Weiss sitting next to her, going over her own notes. Blake was laying on her bed sideways, reading another one of her novels.

"Just... around," Yang said absentmindedly.

Catching the unusual lack of enthusiasm from their normally boisterous teammate, Ruby, Weiss, and Blake stopped what they were doing immediately and gave Yang various looks.

Ruby stood from her seat and hurriedly walked up to Yang to take her hand gently with both hands worriedly. "Yang?" Ruby said, gentle as she could. "You know you can talk to us about anything."

Blake also walked over and put a reassuring hand over Yang's shoulder. "I'm your partner, you can tell me too."

Weiss, on the other hand, just rolled her eyes and resumed to focusing on her notes as she already understood what Ruby and Blake were trying to do.

"Guys?" Yang spoke incredulously, "Am I getting punked?" looking between Ruby and Blake disbelievingly. "Weiss, you're not recording this, are you?"

"Pfft, hahaha!" Ruby was first to break the joke, shortly followed by a lightly chuckling Blake. Weiss only shook her head slightly while, again, rolling her eyes at her team's shenanigans.

"Ha ha. Very funny." Yang said dryly. She lightly pushed herself forward and sat on Blake's bed, already knowing that Blake didn't mind.

"So, what's up sis?" Ruby asked once more, standing in front of her sister, "Got something on your mind?" she continued. Blake sat beside Yang and didn't speak but she was already waiting for Yang to start talking.

"Oh, it's just something I heard, not really sure if I should believe it or not," Yang said dismissively.

"So it's just gossip?" Ruby asked.

"It wouldn't be simple gossip if it got you thinking hard like that." Blake chimed in.

"You saying I don't normally think things through?" Yang looked at Blake sharply.

"Whoops?" was all Blake said, a small smug smile on her face.

"Is this how you're getting back at me for teasing you at lunch?"

Blake didn't answer. She only smugged further.

"Hahaha!" was all Yang could respond with. "But seriously though, I'm not even sure if it's something to talk about. I don't wanna go spreading lies if I can help it." she gave her sister and partner a beaming, reassuring smile.

"Alright, Yang." Ruby easily relented. "So where were you?" she asked, already going back to her seat beside Weiss.

"I went looking for tall, red, and badass in the dorms."

"Pyrrha's just across the hall." Blake chimed in.

"The  _ other _ tall, red, and badass." Yang corrected, though she knew that Blake was joking. "The new girl!"

"How are you even sure that she's here in the first place?" Blake questioned.

"Jaune said she stopped him from behind right as he was about to leave the dorms, so I figured 'Eh, she's probably here too.' or something."

"I wonder what her weapon's like." Ruby chimed in, wondering about what possible name it could have as well.

"We don't even know her name and you're already looking for her weapon?" Blake said in response.

"I- uh- well- I- uh-"

"Leave it to Ruby to be more excited about a person's weapon than the person in question." Yang teased further.

"Yaaaaaaang!" Ruby whined from her seat, earning a quick, light tap on the shoulder from Weiss to remind her to keep quiet.

Blake and Yang gave her a light chuckle. "We're just teasing, Ruby," Yang said.

"So, did you find her?" Blake asked.

"I knew you were interested in her, too!" Yang said, now it was her turn to wear a smug smile.

Blake's only response was to stare back at her partner quietly in disdain. Yang simply turned even smugger.

They had a stare-off for a short while but feeling that it was a losing battle, Blake sighed. "Yes. I am."

"I knew it."

"Whatever." Blake wondered how it was possible for Yang to reach such smug levels.

"And I bet Ice Queen is too."

"You don't even  _ exist _ to me right now, Xiao Long."

" _ Harsh. _ " Yang faked being hurt by her words, holding her hand to her chest but laughed shortly afterward. "Well, whatever," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Anyway, I did find her.  _ And _ get this."

Yang moved her face closer to her partner, "Her room is in 312."

"The one near the end of the hall?" Ruby asked.

"Yep." Yang said, popping the 'p' sound.

Blake only hummed in thought.  _ "She's quite close."  _ she asked further, "How do you know this?"

"I saw Goodwitch walk out of her room by chance earlier," Yang said.

"I don't understand how that makes sen-"

"With a  _ smile _ on her face." she continued, interrupting Blake's further questioning.

"What?" -Blake

"What." -Ruby

"What?" -Weiss

"Yep." popping the 'p' louder, a little surprised that she managed to catch Weiss's attention which caused her smug aura to ooze out by the gallons.

"W-Wait!" Ruby chimed, "I mean, how does Professor Goodwitch  _ smiling _ make that the new girl's room?"

"Because I've only ever seen Goodwitch stand outside a student's room to chew them out."

"Good point," Ruby said, very easily believing her sister.

"What do you think Goodwitch was doing with her back there, then?" Blake asked, not really understanding how Goodwitch's smile being a perfectly good reason to believe what Yang was saying.

"I'unno? Probably talking to her about what she did back in the cafeteria."

"Probably."

"Anyway!" Yang clapped her hands loudly, catching everyone's attention once more, much to Weiss's disdain. "Blake!" she called out, a smile never leaving her face.

Blake gave her one raised eyebrow in response, already fearing what Yang was going to say. "Wanna  _ Smash _ before dinner?" a large salacious grin plastered on her face.

"Yang Xiao Long, you pig!  _ Have you no shame!? _ At least wait until you two are alone!" Weiss immediately yelled, red in the face.

Blake stared in disbelief, letting Yang's words sink in. " _ What. _ "

"Oooooh! Can I join?" Ruby asked excitedly, earning a double  _ "What!?" _ from both Blake and Weiss, who were both flushed in the face, leaving Yang doubled over trying not to laugh too hard.

* * *

**_—8:14 pm, Headmaster's Office_ **

"I see. So, she really was the cause, as we suspected?" Ozpin said, trying to clarify Glynda's report about her talk with Tiella.

Ozpin was standing by the window, looking down on Beacon's courtyard, mug in hand. Glynda was standing at the front of his desk where she told him what she learned about Tiella and her world.

"It's what she believes, as well," she spoke, a cool expression on her face.

"I see." Ozpin mused, "While the conditions for use are certainly dangerous, the results may be just enough to more than make up for it, as long as she uses them at the correct time and place." he commented, already thinking up various ways and situations where Tiella's skill would be most effective with minimal losses for them.

"Ozpin, are we truly inviting her to our fight against  _ her? _ " Glynda asked, worried for the girl's fate, arms crossed in front.

"You know me well enough to understand that I won't as long as I don't have to," he responded, giving her a soft look.

"You're right, I'm sorry." she looked away in response, "I suppose I'm just worried. It hasn't been a day and she's already made a name for herself, as I'm sure you've seen."

"Yes, I have," he replied, remembering the scene with Tiella in the cafeteria in amusement.

"And what of the relic? Did we find anything?" Glynda asked, remembering where it all began.

"The door is still sealed. So unless I find a Maiden to open it, I would have no way of knowing for sure."

"I see." Glynda spoke, "By the way, Ozpin."

"Yes?" he turned to face her.

"I also wish to speak with you about Tiella's papers."

"The daughter of a distant relative who grew up in the dangerous parts of Atlas, was it?" Ozpin mused, retrieving the papers he prepared for Tiella that was on his desk. It definitely needed a revision. A protege from Vacuo was definitely far from his assistant's version, and it was certainly a better one too.

"Yes. My apologies, but the other professors were curious about her and it was the most logical ruse that I could think of on the spot." Glynda explained, her cool expression back on her face.

"I see," he said, sipping from his mug once more. "This certainly adds more work but it's nothing I can't handle easily. Will there be anything else?" he asked, one eyebrow raised at Glynda.

"Have you spoken with Qrow and Ironwood about her?"

"Not yet, but I will. I was waiting to hear more of Tiella, which you delivered just in time," he said, giving Glynda a small gracious smile.

"I see." Glynda said, "In that case, there is nothing more."

"Hmm." he nodded in agreement, "Very well, you're dismissed for the night. Thank you for your work, Glynda."

"Of course. Goodnight, Ozpin," she replied as she stood by the door before bowing her head slightly.

"Goodnight, Glynda."

Ozpin returned to Tiella's papers and began revising them. He also sent a message for Qrow to return as soon as he can for a top priority meeting, as well as for Ironwood to be ready for the said meeting as soon as Qrow arrived.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Morning came gently to Tiella the next day. She felt refreshed and energized—well rested after possibly one of the most disorienting days of her life so far. Her eyes cracked open at 6 in the morning like they normally do at the start of her daily routine.

She stood from her bed and went directly to the bathroom to wash her face with cold water. She hand-combed her bed hair with her still damp hands as she didn't have her own brush. It didn't matter to her, she always learned to make do with what she had on hand. She's resilient that way.

After brushing, she fetched her hair ties from her pocket and easily did her hair into a high ponytail. Now, despite the high placement, her hair still reached just slightly above her butt, so she would always wrap the rest of her ponytail into a bun which was held tightly by her second tie. She brushed her bangs to the left, revealing sharp golden eyes in full view.

As soon as she's done doing her hair, she stripped her dress shirt off and threw it on one of the beds, leaving her in only a sports bra. She had a well-toned body, tempered through extremely rigorous training—only supplemented by intense body weight lifting. Even at a relaxed state, one can see how toned her muscles were. Her build plays largely to her speed and agility, but that didn't mean she didn't pack a mean punch. Her lithe form is riddled with scars of varying shapes and sizes as well.

A long scrape on her left shoulder, two holes on her stomach, some cuts on both arms and flanks, and signs of a burn scar hidden partially by her bra on the right side of her back. All in all, she had the look of a seasoned and battered warrior down to a T. She even had a cut on her forehead that ran across her left eyebrow—usually hidden behind her fringes.

Now if we're talking sizes, Tiella's Tiellas were nothing small,  _ but _ they were far from being huge. If people had to guess, most of them would think she's a C halfway to D. In other words, fairly average.  _ Nothing special _ . But if we look to her  _ thig- _

_ "Feels like someone's dissing my tits after a good ogling."  _ Tiella thought, suddenly having an irrational urge to fuck someone in the face with a metal bat.

Oh, sorry, moving on.

She wore her combat boots after wearing her own form-fitting military pants and she was done. She did a once-over in front of the mirror in the closet and went out the door, keys in her pockets, ready for her morning workout.

She walked down the hall, earning looks from the few early risers like her. Some recognized her as the girl in the cafeteria, some simply gave her a look, likely to check her out discreetly—which didn't work because she noticed but chose to ignore. Some openly checked her out which she also chose to ignore. She reached the first floor and saw the bunny girl from yesterday in her workout clothes. A plain white T with maroon jogging pants and white rubber shoes.

She went past the bunny girl—who she now recalled was Velvet—as she didn't really have any business with her, but after a couple of paces ahead, she heard Velvet call out to her from behind.

"Excuse me! Ms. Tiella!" Velvet said as she lightly jogged over.

"Yes?" Tiella said after turning around, flashing her a casual smile. "Velvet, right?"

"Yes, you remembered my name." Velvet replied with a little smile on her face.

"Yeah, well, hard to forget a cute bunny girl's name. Also, Tiella's fine. I'll ignore you the next time you call me with a title." Tiella responded while keeping up the casual smile.  _ "Weird how she's the only one with an accent around here. Is there an equivalent of Aussieland in this world?" _

"Wha- I- Uh. T-Thank you... and, um, I will." Velvet stuttered and blushed faintly while holding her bunny ears close to her face while looking up at the much taller girl. "A-Are you just about to do your morning workout?" Velvet asked demurely, eyeing some of the scars Tiella didn't bother hiding.  _ "That's quite a few scars. Does she like to train without her Aura? Though some of those look like they weren't from training but actual fights." _

"Actually, yeah," Tiella answered as she started walking, inviting Velvet along with a look. "I was planning to do a couple laps around the campus to warm up. What about you? You starting or just finishing?"

"A-Around the campus?" Velvet asked, a little surprised with Tiella's idea of a warm up. "A-Ah, I'm just starting a-as well."

"That's great then. Maybe you'd care to join me?" Tiella asked, upping her walking speed as they neared a pavement. "Like I said yesterday, I'm a new hire, so I've no idea about the layout of this place."

Velvet matched her walking speed as soon as she saw Tiella sped up and answered, "Yes!" which earned her a weird look from Tiella.

"I-I mean," she coughed into her hand and continued, "Yes, I'd be happy to show you around."

"Awesome," Tiella replied as she flashed her a big grin. "Should be a good place to start," she said, looking around to see a long winding pavement shaded by large trees stretching a couple of dozen meters ahead that likely curved around the school as she'd guessed. She then began doing dynamic exercises to properly stretch out her limbs for a run.

"Sure," Velvet said as she started doing her own light dynamic stretches, following Tiella's lead. "this path curves around the school, leading into a big open field on the other side from here." she finished, huffing lightly.

"Sounds good," Tiella said as soon as she finished her jumping jacks.

"Then, at the end of the field, there'll be another path that should circle back to this place here."

"Great," Tiella huffed, "just what I was hoping for," she said as she lightly jumped from one foot to another in place. "Ready?"

"Ready." Velvet replied, waiting for Tiella to lead the way.

"Alright, let's go!" immediately after speaking, she went into a full-on sprint, leaving Velvet behind.

"Wha-" caught off guard by Tiella's sudden sprint, she sprinted as well, trying to catch up. "W-Wait up!"

* * *

"Do..." Velvet breathed heavily, "...do you always start your workouts like that?" A good amount of sweat formed on her forehead and gym clothes. As far as Velvet was concerned, full-on sprints for 20 minutes with 30-second breaks of walking after every minute of running was already a full body workout. Her knees felt like jelly, her breathing was labored, her abdomen felt strained, and her arms and upper back felt slightly sore.

Even with passive Aura enhancement, she can only go on for so long while giving it her best and trying to stay at her best all throughout.

"Yeah, stamina training's real important to me. I'd go for another two laps but it looks like you're ready to pass out." Tiella said while sending Velvet a wry smile. She, on the other hand, while coated with sweat much like Velvet, didn't even look like she was tired. She was breathing a little louder than usual, but other than that, she was fine.

"Actually, I'm gonna go for another two laps after all, if you don't mind. You can just wait for me here, try to cool down?"

"Ho-.." Velvet said, still gasping for air. "Ho-kay," she said while walking to a tree sluggishly to lean on, placing a hand on her chest.

"Alright then, I'll be right back!" and off did Tiella went sprinting.

**_—About 5 minutes later_ **

"Aaaand one more lap to go," Tiella said as soon as she arrived at the tree Velvet was still leaning on. She was breathing a little more labored compared to earlier. She gave Velvet a little wave while walking past her.

"Ahaha..." Velvet gave a little wave of her own and watched Tiella go for another sprint a couple of paces later.  _ "So much stamina..." _

_ "Sure are lotta trees in this place. Probably means a lotta horny teens here at night, too."  _ She thought during another lap around the school.

Meanwhile, Tiella was getting various looks. She also realized that she'd been getting a lot of them lately. Some already recognized her after seeing her run past them for the 4th time already. She was content with ignoring them, focusing back on her run, however. She noticed more of those  _ animal-people _ like Velvet walking around the courtyard and open field, reminding herself again to ask Glynda about them later on.

"I'm done! Thanks for waiting." Tiella said to Velvet who was doing light dynamic stretches again.

"Welcome back." Velvet said with a little smile on her face. She noticed that Tiella was actually breathing a little harder than before, her chest visibly rising and falling. "Where do you want to go next?"

"There a place where I can hit something repeatedly without getting arrested?" Tiella responded with a cheeky grin.

She chuckled, "Yes, don't worry. We have lots of them here."

"Lead the way? Unless you've got your own thing to do?"

"Sure. And it's fine, I was planning to head to the gym as well anyways."

* * *

At the gym, Tiella parted with Velvet to head for the punching bags. Velvet headed for the large jungle gym to practice more of her acrobatics.

_ "This place looks amazing."  _ Tiella thought while eyeing some of the other equipment.  _ "That's a lotta machines. All of em look like they're top of the line too. They even have dummies to hit, nice." _

The gym was filled with the early risers that wanted to train before classes began. Most of them were by the weightlifting area and the dummies area for close and long range combat. She found one punching bag unoccupied and headed straight for it. She gave the bag a few solid taps on the side with her palms and nodded in satisfaction. She looked at her hands and remembered that she left her gloves back in her room.

Tiella looked around the area for a bit to see if she can find anything she can cover her fists with. Not finding anything, she walked over to where Velvet was and asked, "Hey Velvet! You know where I can find some tape and gauze for my hands?"

Velvet was balancing herself on one of the bars with only the fingers of one hand. When she heard Tiella speaking to her, she let go, caught the bar with the same hand, fell forward once to revolve around the bar, let go, somersaulted in the air, and finally landed with arms raised and both feet flat on the gym mats in front of Tiella.

"8 out of 10," Tiella commented with her arms crossed in front of her.

"Thanks." Velvet responded demurely. "Did you cut yourself on the punching bags?"

"Nah, not yet at least." Tiella showed Velvet both her hands then crossed her arms once more unknowingly emphasizing her bust even further.

"That's good. Let me show you where to get them." Velvet said while leading the way.

As soon as Tiella got what she needed, she immediately started wrapping her fists while walking back to the bags. Not forgetting to thank Velvet before parting of course.

"Right," she said to herself, lightly punching her fists together. She stretched her neck left and right, front and back, then around clockwise and counterclockwise, all the while jumping in place from one foot to another.

She began with soft taps with her fists, alternating between right and left. Each tap got stronger and stronger until the bag swayed along. After a few more taps came the light jabs. She began adding spin to her jabs after a while and finally went into haymakers.

She started slow with the haymakers, hitting the punching bag with hooks and straights from different angles. Then, she raised her speed. She kept going at the punching bag, each blow landing harder and faster until she started adding footwork.

And that was when she started mixing things up a bit more. She darted left and right, mixing in various combinations of punches. Two-hit jabs followed by a solid right hook. Three alternating light hooks followed by a left straight with a spin that started from the sole of her right foot, sending the bag swinging hard backward, nearly reaching the ceiling it was connected to, the chain holding it up making a loud rattling sound.

The loud noise certainly caught the attention of some nearby gym goers, earning her a small crowd for a short while before they went back to doing their own thing. Even Velvet from a little further away in the jungle gym heard the noise loud and clear given her obviously heightened hearing.

After a short while, she mixed in various combinations of kicks, knees, and elbows and kept going at the bag non-stop for another 30 minutes. So focused she was with her punches and kicks that she hadn't noticed the looks she'd been getting. Some of which came from another tall redhead from the wooden dummies for close quarters combat.

* * *

"Tiella?" Velvet called from beside her. After they both finished their morning workout/training, they sat on a bench by the lockers while rehydrating themselves with cold bottles of water.

"Yeah?" Tiella looked to Velvet while wiping her face with a face towel. "What's up?"

"Do you always train so intensely without Aura?" Velvet continued. "I can tell because I practice Aura-sensing here."

"Pretty much." she lied.   _ "It's the manifestation of the Soul, or so Glynda said, right? Maybe she can help me with it, too? Because fuck me if I don't even have a soul." _

She continued, "I just figured, if I have a good core—a solid foundation—I'll be able to perform much better when I go all out, y'know? Because when nothing else works, all you can fall back on is your basics, right?"

"I see. That makes sense." Velvet said contemplatively before she glugged the rest of her drink down.  _ "Maybe I should try it out, too? Coco's been teasing me lately, calling me a one-trick bunny and all." _

"Also! I'm a firm believer that broken bones teach better lessons." Tiella said while flashing Velvet a big toothy grin.

"I-I see." Velvet responded.  _ "M-Maybe I should go back to the basics first if I'm going to be training without Aura?" _

"Ready to hit the showers?" Tiella asked, pulling Velvet away from her thoughts to revise her own training regime.

"Sure." she nodded.

After the shower, Tiella spent the next 5 minutes doing her signature braids in front of the large locker room mirror—twin, thick, and loose at the base of her nape. Her bangs lightly hiding her eyes as they peeked in between. Quite the homely image, unfitting of a cold and hardened mercenary—as some would say.

Well, to that, she would always respond with how well she can fit her gun in another person's anus and magically add extras for easier shitting. Not really, just to most assholes about it, but you get the picture.

She was sitting next to Velvet who was on the bench, carefully brushing her hair after drying it out with a towel.

"Hey, Velvet," Tiella called while buckling her boot back. "How come you didn't fight back?" she said with a bit of seriousness in her tone.

"Well..." Velvet started, a little surprised with the sudden change to a more serious subject. "It's complicated," she said while rubbing her arm demurely.

"Yeah?" Tiella responded without looking, still buckling her other boot back. "Well, whatever floats your boat." she stood and tapped the tip of her boots on the floor a couple of times to fit it nicely and continued. "Like I said before, the next time that happens, I won't be helping you out." and she extended her hand to Velvet, an offer for her to help her stand.

Velvet gingerly took the offered hand and stood to face Tiella looking up. "Okay," she replied contemplatively.

"By the way, from one girl to another..?" Tiella whispered after moving her slightly flushed face closer to Velvet. Unsurprisingly, Velvet's immediate reaction was to move her head back while hoping Tiella didn't notice the blush forming on her cheeks.

"Y-Yes?"

Tiella looked around with her eyes to make sure no one else was around to hear her whispered words. "Do you know a place where I can buy underwear? I'm new to Vale and I know it's disgusting, but I've been wearing these things for 2 days now because I've nothing else."

Velvet looked at Tiella wide-eyed, letting her words sink in. She saw Tiella's face flush even more while pursing her lips. She stared for a little longer before she remembered that Tiella asked her a question.

"Y-Yes. I know a place and my partner knows way more than I do." Velvet said as she tried to calm herself down. "If you're fine with it, I can introduce you to Coco. She's been wanting to meet with you anyway for saving me from those bullies."

"Yes. Please. As long as I don't have to be forced into this stank ass bra any longer than today."

Velvet chuckled at her words, though, she truly understood the grossness of wearing days old sweaty underwear, "How does after school sound?"

"I'm gonna have to check my schedule with Glynda to make sure. I also don't have a Scroll yet so... I'll come looking for you instead?"

"I suppose you can look for us in the dorms. We're Team CFVY, spelled with a "C-F-V-Y" and we're in room 206 in the West Wing Dorms."

_ "Weird way to spell coffee. Maybe it's the team's initials arranged intentionally like _ that? _ "  _ Tiella thought for a second before answering. "Great, I'm just a floor above you guys at 312."

"That's good to know." Velvet said and looked at the wall clock, 7:27 am. She contemplated for a bit before speaking again. "Do you... um..."

"Yeah?" Tiella said, urging Velvet to continue.

"W-Would you like to eat breakfast with me-.. m-me and my team! I mean, I would probably be with my team, i-if you don't mind the company of course."

"I don't mind. I'm hungry anyway. I just need to change into something that doesn't reek of sweat before I go."

"T-That's great!" Velvet said, expression blooming with a gentle smile. "We'll wait for you by the first floor then."

"Sounds like a plan. Shall we?" Tiella said while facing the door out the locker room.

"Let's."

* * *

As soon as Tiella got back to her room she quickly changed into the same attire she had as yesterday, with fresh clothes of course. She headed down to the first floor where Velvet and her team were waiting in their school uniforms before quickly heading for the cafeteria.

"Tiella," Velvet started, introducing her team in order with her open palm as they walked. "this is Coco, Fox, and Yatsuhashi."

_ "It really is made up of their initials. I don't know if that's smart or dumb. I mean, who named them like that?" _ Tiella thought, wondering what sort of thought process was followed to make a decision to create team names based on each team member's initials before she had been broken away from them by a question.

"Why do you already have a tray?" Coco asked, curious about how she had one with her already.

"I brought this one to my room yesterday to eat after the mess 'cause staying there felt very awkward for me. I just forgot to return it as soon as I was done." Tiella explained nonchalantly.

Coco didn't speak at first, only peeking at Tiella after lowering her shades. Fox only nodded without looking her way. Yatsuhashi at least faced Tiella before nodding his head and back to looking where they were going.

Coco gave her a small grin. "Thanks for saving Velvs." extending her hand for a handshake. "She told me  _ all _ about how you toyed with her bullies yesterday."

Tiella shook her hand and was about to introduce herself as well but before she could, Coco firmed up on her grip and continued, "And also about your little  _ parting words _ to her afterward." she said as she got her face a little closer to hers.

Tiella, for her part, tightened her grip as well and came even closer with a small grin of her own. "Just my two cents as a new hire."

They had a stare-off with tensions rising enough for Velvet to feel nervous. "C-Coco-" she started, attempting to dissuade her partner from picking a fight. Though before she could, she heard Coco laugh then let go of Tiella's hand immediately.

Tiella looked at Coco with a raised eyebrow and the same small grin.

"I like her, Velvs! She's got spunk." Coco said after her short laugh, giving Velvet a cheeky smile.

"Coco! Please!" Velvet whined, a little mad that she got tricked into believing that Coco was about to pick a fight with her savior.

Tiella laughed as well after seeing the interaction between Velvet and her partner. "You have a nice team, Velvet."

"T-Thanks, I know." Velvet said demurely. "R-Right! Team, I know I already told you about her but this is Tiella and she's a new staff member here," she said, shaking her embarrassment off by getting back on track.

"It's very nice to finally meet you, Tiella. Mind if I call you Tielle or Chelly?" Coco spoke as a representative of their other teammates.

"I don't mind." she just shrugged.

"Great," Coco said in response. "You know... you look a little too young to be a staff member at Beacon. Much less a professor..." she said after eyeing how Tiella's looks and attire. "Velvet also told me about how you just moved in so you might need help with some shopping."

"Yep." Tiella said, popping the 'p' sound. "And Ozpin just gave me a little pass because he knew me from somewhere else."

"That's great," Coco said, leading the way to the trays. "And you came to the right girl, Tielle. I know  _ all _ the great spots to pick out some clothes. And we can start by giving you a nice little makeover." she then proceeded to order one large serving of chicken salad with two sunny side ups and a cold glass of orange juice.

"That's..." Tiella caught the underlying meaning behind Coco's statement and suddenly she worried for her precious afternoon. "...real great. Really. It is." she said, following from behind with her own tray. "Just a sec, I need to order."

Tiella turned to the cafeteria lady and asked, "Do..." she hesitated slightly, "Do you guys take special orders?"

"As long as we have it in the pantry." the lady said, recognizing who Tiella was in an instant.

"Great!" Tiella beamed and immediately listed her order. "I'll have one large order of mac'n'cheese, your spiciest chili, and pizza toppings and put it all on a large bun, thanks!" she said, eagerly waiting for her order.

The cafeteria lady's eyes were wide as soon as Tiella finished her order, and she wasn't alone with the reaction. Team CFVY looked at Tiella with varying degrees of surprise as well as some of the nearer students who heard her make the order. The lady was dumbfounded for a short while longer before she remembered that she still had to do Tiella's order.

"Better put the pizza topping first, then the mac, then the chili by the way." Tiella continued, oblivious to the looks she's getting from the others. "Oh! And a tall glass of milk, thanks!"

"That's... a lot of carbs." Velvet said in mild astonishment but then immediately remembered Tiella's supposed daily routine, to which she then thought was only apt.

"Are you sure that's not gonna kill you?" Coco said, looking both scared and interested by the monstrosity that was Tiella's breakfast.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll burn it all up tonight anyway." Tiella dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"What do you even call that...  _ thing? _ " Coco asked, still eyeing the thing incredulously.

"I dunno, probably a Sloppy Tiella or something," Tiella responded offhandedly, saying the first words she thought of while looking at her breakfast without actually thinking.

" _ S-S-S-Sloppy Tiella...? _ " Coco repeated, trying not to laugh too hard else she spills her own breakfast on the floor. "Hey, Mama!" Coco called out to the cafeteria lady, "This girl says this monstrosity is called a  _ Sloppy Tiella! _ Better keep it in the menu from now on!"

"Will do, Coco!" said the cafeteria lady.

"Tonight?" Velvet asked after having a good laugh—her turn to order. She ordered a large serving of an all-vegetable salad with some tofu and a cold glass of water.

"Yep, I continue my workout at night before I hit the hay," Tiella said while following Coco to a vacant table.

The two boys quietly made their orders as well and followed just behind Velvet, content to stay in the background of the three girls' talk.

Coco hummed in thought as soon as she sat down followed by Tiella to her left, then Velvet to put Tiella between them. "Anyway, I'm actually a little jealous of you Chelly. How did you do it?" she said, leaning down on the table and resting her chin atop her hands put together in front of her.

"Habou' whaf?" Tiella asked, face stuffed with half of her...  _ breakfast _ already.

Coco and Velvet paused and stared, wondering how someone could eat so much in so little time. Tiella noticed the looks she got and swallowed quickly. "Right, sorry about that. So, what were you jealous about?" she asked while licking bits of chili and mac from her fingers.

The question snapped both girls from their reverie, forcing them to return to their meals. Coco then continued after a small bite. "I was wondering how you got our sweet little Velvs so close to you after just a day," she said while giving Velvet a teasing smile. "It took me at least a  _ week _ before I could get her to talk to me about herself, and that was just her telling me she didn't eat meat! Can you believe it?" she continued, exaggerating her tone and actions. "I was under the impression she  _ hated _ me or something."

"I-I'd never hate you, Coco!" Velvet said, feeling bad that she never knew her partner thought she hated her. "I-I was just a little-"

"I know, Velvs, don't worry." Coco immediately chiming in, "You're just a little shy at first." giving her a reassuring grin.

Tiella hummed in thought, wondering what she did differently. "I dunno, really. Maybe I got under her skin?"

"W-Well..." Velvet spoke demurely. "I was definitely surprised to hear it. And it was after you just saved me, too. So... it got me thinking."

"Hmm." was Coco's only response, going back to her breakfast.

"Well, like I said. Just my two cents." And Tiella went back to the other half of her bun.

"What is a 'two cents'?" Velvet asked. "I heard you say it earlier but I just couldn't get what you mean."

"Oh, uh, right, yeah." Tiella scratched her cheek in response, a wry smile on her face.  _ "Forgot, not on Earth."  _ she grabbed her glass of milk and took a big sip to help push her food down and continued, "I meant to say that I was just sharing my thoughts. It's just a metaphor."

"Oooooh." Velvet said, finally understanding what she meant. Coco and the rest of Team CFVY only nodded in acknowledgment.

Tiella downed the last few bites of her breakfast with the rest of her milk in one big swig. She finished what a satisfied  _ "Aaah!"  _ leaving her with a white mustache that Team CFVY found to be both funny and uncharacteristically adorable of the tall girl. Tiella then licked her lips and stood from her seat.

"It was nice meeting you, Coco—" she said while looking at Coco with a casual smile, then the rest of her team, "Team CFVY. And thanks for joining me earlier Velvet. I gotta go see Glynda, she's probably waiting for me in her office or something." she finished before giving Velvet a little pat on the head which greatly surprised her and Coco.

"I'll be seein' you guys later," Tiella said while walking away, unaware of the various reactions on each member of Team CFVY's faces.

* * *

Glynda was on her desk compiling data on her students, organizing them via year, class, and team. She was quietly focused on her work when suddenly she heard the door swinging and slamming loudly.

"Heeeey, Glynda," Tiella said while walking into Glynda's office without even bothering to close the door. "Can I get an advance today? Hopefully, get it before the afternoon ends? I'm in  _ severe need _ of fresh clothes."

Glynda gave Tiella a raised eyebrow and re-positioned her glasses before speaking. "And you asked me if I knew how to knock yesterday."

"Oh, sorry," Tiella said before knocking on the already open door three times before closing it behind her. "There we go." She walked up to Glynda's desk where she put her hands over. "So, can you give me an advance? I really can't stress enough how I  _ need _ fresh clothes right now. Among other things."

Glynda's eye twitched slightly at the implication, unwilling to continue her train of thought as to what exactly she meant. "I'll speak with Ozpin about it later. For now, here's your schedule for today," she said, handing over a small list of which classes to go to in order, who to follow, when it began, and when it ended, along with her own breaks. When Tiella took the list from her, she shortly resumed to her own work.

"Thanks." Tiella studied her schedule nonchalantly. "Let's see now... Grimm Studies first with... Professor Peter Port, then History with Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck? What the hell kinda name is Oobleck?"

"The kind of name that should be addressed with a Dr. at the front of it." Glynda spoke dryly and continued while still focused on her work, "He  _ dislikes _ not being addressed by his title, so don't even  _ think _ about it." already understanding that there's a fairly high chance of Tiella doing something to spite said colleague.

"We'll see..." she said in a low voice, hoping Glynda wouldn't hear it.

" _ Don't. _ "

"Okay."

"You're still going to do it, aren't you?"

"You know me so well already even though it's only been a day."

"You cried in my arms yesterday. I'd say I know  _ you _ well enough compared to most of the people here."

" _ Right! _ So, Combat classes in the afternoon for the last class of the day, huh? Lead by... you? Awesome, this should be good."

"There's still a Dust Theories class lead by Professor Peach before mine on that list, please don't forget that."

"Ah, you're right. My bad."

"Will there be anything else?" Glynda asked, raising her head to look at Tiella while once more re-positioning her glasses.

"Just one thing..." Tiella said, moving her face a little closer to Glynda's where they met at eye level. Tiella stared at Glynda for a bit until she realized that she'll never get a flustered expression from her the way she was doing it. "...how much is a  _ Scroll? _ "

"If you want a personal scroll, the average market price for a simple one is 400 Lien. But if you're just worried about us contacting you, you don't have to because we'll be providing you one at a later date for business purposes." Glynda answered, completely unfazed.

Tiella stood back upright and folded her list before pocketing it. "Great to hear it! I'll see you around, Glynda," she said while already walking out of the office. "And don't forget! I really need that advance!"

"Of course. Have a nice day, Tiella." Glynda said from her desk, already returning to her work.

"You, too," Tiella said before shutting the door.

* * *

Tiella walked the hallway toward her first class which was to assist Professor Port for Grimm Studies.

_ "She's never gonna forget that, is she? Nothing's ever easy..." _ Tiella whined internally. She breathed in deeply, filling her lungs with as much air as she could before sighing out the words "This is my life now..." in the most resigned manner she could.

She reached the door to Professor Port's class and found that some students were already in their seats while a portly man stood in front of the large board writing something.

_ "Is this supposed to be a joke? A portly old man is called Professor Port? Is this actually Lillianne's doing? Fucking Lily and her stupid fucking puns reaching another god damn dimension." _ she thought in slight disdain.

"Ah, yes!" Port said after seeing Tiella by the door. "You must be the new girl! It's very nice to finally meet you. Come on in and don't be shy!" he said in his boisterous manner, directing the attention of some students to her.

_ "Please, don't tell me he's one of  _ **_those_ ** _ kinds of old men." _ Tiella thought while walking towards Port as instructed. Some of the students bubbled into low murmurs while looking at her from their seats. Words like  _ "Hey, that's the professional bully from the cafeteria video!" _ and  _ "She's way taller than I thought." _

_ "I guess word of me already spread? That's not good." _ Tiella thought, not really happy about her small and sudden rise to fame and infamy. She much preferred a life of anonymity from the public at the very least. Though with her current job, she understood that it's something that can't be helped.

"Good mornin', Professor Port. The name's Tiella. Glynda said I should stick to observing classes for my first day but if you have anything I can help with, then feel free to ask." she said, curtly introducing herself in a voice clear enough for at least the front desks to hear and an extended hand for a handshake.

Port, ever the jolly man, took the offered hand and gave it a very firm squeeze and shake while looking Tiella straight in the eyes. "That's good to hear! Let me get a seat for you so you can sit near the board. You can start by introducing yourself as soon as class begins and observing my students and I for the duration! Class should begin shortly."

"Alrighty, then."

Tiella took the offered seat and sat cross-legged, arms crossed in front. She checked the time from the wall clock at the back of the room: 8:58 am. She glanced around the room to take a better look at the students and noticed a few familiar faces. Some of which she knew as Velvet and Jaune. Her eyes met with Velvet's and she gave her a small wave from her seat, ever the demure girl.

Tiella waved back with a small casual smile in response then glanced around once more to see the same boys that bullied Velvet a couple of rows behind her. One of said bullies, particularly the one she used as a blunt instrument, was glaring at her with all his might, teeth grit and everything. She responded in kind by giving him the smuggest smile she can muster, causing him to nearly pop a vein in pure indignation.

_ "That's enough teasing, I guess."  _ Tiella thought, eyeing the clock once more and was correct in thinking that class should be starting any second from there.  _ "It's a class about Grimm, creatures I've never heard of, in another world. I don't like schools but it should be interesting enough, right?" _

She thought wrong.

* * *

_ "Boy, I was both right and wrong."  _ Tiella thought not even 5 seconds after class ended.  _ "He was exactly what I thought of him and his class was the exact opposite. Christ." _ The entire time she was giving him the benefit of the doubt waiting for him to prove her wrong the pleasant way.

_ "It's like watching an old man stroking his flaccid cock in an attempt to feel good after years upon years of inaction." _ she sighed once more after rubbing her face with one hand in slight frustration as well as to wake her up from the  _ snoozefest _ that was her first class.

_ "At least I learned more about Grimm. Weird how they just up and disappear soon as they're dead. Oh, wait, fuck! I forgot to ask Glynda about Aura for me! Maybe I can ask her during lunch or something? And the freakin' Faunus-whatever! Gods fuck me. I hope the next class is better." _

She fished her schedule from her pocket and checked her next class.  _ "Ah, it's that Oobleck guy's class. History. Great. I love history."  _ she pocketed her list once again and sighed, "My day's just starting and I'm already tired."

"Don't worry, Dr. Oobleck has a way of keeping students from sleeping in his class." a familiar voice and accent came from behind, which caused her to turn around.

"Velvet, long time no see." Tiella greeted sarcastically, earning a chuckle from the bunny girl. "And I just hope you're right." turning around once more to lead the way to her next class.

They walked next to each other contentedly in silence until they reached their destination. They parted as soon as they entered the room and Tiella saw a large number of papers pinned to a large world map on the board. Then she looked to the area near the desk and found a messy head of green hair that grew a human-shaped body to help it stand and... dart around from one part of the room to another without taking a single step—all the while drinking something from a mug.

_ "I swear if this isn't actually robot..." _

"Professor Oobleck, good morning." Tiella initiated while walking up to said professor and extending her hand like she always did.

Oobleck looked to the source of the voice that called out to him and immediately darted towards her. "Ah yes! You must be Tiella! Good! Very good!" he sipped. "For today, you're free to simply observe! Pick any seat you like, I don't mind, and if you have any questions yourself, don't be afraid to ask!" he sipped once more, "Also! Please do remember to introduce yourself to the class before we begin." then moved his face just centimeters away from hers and spoke in an angry tone. "And it's  _ 'Doctor' _ Oobleck! I didn't earn the Ph.D. for fun,  _ thank you very much! _ "

_ "Yeah, no one can speak that fast without the need to breathe. This guy's a robot." _ Tiella convinced herself, blinking multiple times in response.

"Sure thing, Professor. I'll be here if you need me," she said, giving Oobleck her own brand of cheeky smiles and picked a seat for herself next to one of the students. H only responded by re-positioning his glasses and muttering something about the  _ 'lack of respect from kids these days' _ while going back to his business by the board.

She saw a lot of familiar faces from the previous class enter the room and pick their seats. Particularly Velvet, Jaune, and the angry boy. She just shrugged and thought nothing of it.

A few minutes later, she introduced herself as instructed and class began. True to Velvet's words, Oobleck did have a way to keep his students from falling asleep in class. Darting around the room, moving from desk to desk, student to student, while discussing is definitely bound to catch his students' attention, boring as his topics might be to her.

_ "Please, give me a normal next class." _ Tiella sincerely wished to Lady Luck while fishing out her schedule as soon as she was out of Oobleck's class.  _ "Oh, it's lunch. My favorite class so far, probably. Time to meet up with Glynda, then." _ and she pocketed her list again while walking back to Glynda's office.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> Do you now have a better image of Tiella in your mind? I hope I described her well enough for you guys.
> 
> Yes, I know. Fox IS blind, or at least that's what most of the fandom believes since not even the wikia says so explicitly. Or maybe they confirmed it in a subreddit or something, I dunno.


	6. Chapter 6

**_—Lunch Break, Staff Room, Main Building_ **

"So, professors, how was she?" Peach asked before sipping on a cranberry juice on one of the tables. "Was she as interesting as the video in the cafeteria suggested?"

Port and Oobleck looked back on their personal experience with Tiella, remembering their first impression of her after finally meeting her in person. Port was eating a large sandwich with the usual suspects as ingredients. Oobleck was contentedly snacking on smaller sandwiches that were much like Port's. They paused for a bit until Port answered first.

"When she came into my class, it looked like she didn't know what to expect." Port said, "I had her introduce herself as soon as class began and had her sit on the side so she could observe me and my students to get her a little acquainted." he continued after drinking from his glass of water, "Now, while I was regaling my students with my glorious deeds and encounters with various Grimm in the past, I kept looking back to her and noticed how she seemed like she's never heard of Grimm before!"

Peach and Oobleck looked at him with confused eyes, silently urging him to continue. "I know it sounds hard to believe, so at first I thought to myself, perhaps she's just very interested in learning, however, she kept giving me strange looks whenever I talked about Grimm and how I defeated them."

"Peter, I feel like I know why she's giving you strange looks, but okay, please continue." Peach said.

Port raised his one eyebrow at Peach in confusion but continued nonetheless, "Now, when I was about to tell them the tale of me riding on an Elder Nuckelavee's back all across Anima, I noticed a dark look over her face."

"A  _ dark _ look?" both professors repeated incredulously.

"Yes." Port continued in a more serious manner. "Her already sharp eyes narrowed to slits and were staring hard on the floor as if she was deep in thought."

_ "She was probably fighting sleep." _ was both professors' shared thoughts.

"I found it very strange. I wonder what she had on her mind at the time." Port said and paused for a moment to think then continued, "Nonetheless, class ended shortly after that and she thanked me and said her casual goodbyes."

"How about you, Doctor?" Peach asked, curious about Oobleck's first class with the girl.

"Other than the  _ rudeness _ she displayed to me by refusing to address me correctly as my Ph.D. decrees, it was a very normal experience. Not unlike that of adding a new student." Oobleck responded with a minor disdain in the beginning. "She was largely uninterested in hearing more about history and her interest only showed itself slightly by the time I had been discussing the Faunus War." he sipped from his ever-present coffee mug, "Perhaps she sympathizes with the Faunus, which should explain her actions in the cafeteria."

"I see," Peach responded, not really knowing what to think of Tiella just yet. "Maybe I can find something she can help me with later on."

"You do you, Professor Peach! And I'll be sure to have her join me in my next expedition to the Emerald Forest in two weeks!" Oobleck said after finishing his sandwich.

"That's a great idea! I'll have her join me for my weekly Grimm hunts. That should be enough time to get to know more about our new colleague." Port said, ever so boisterous.

* * *

"Glynda! Tell me more about Aura!" Tiella said immediately after barging into the Deputy Headmistress's Office only to find no one there.

_ "Well, that made me look like a dumbass." _ she thought, glad to note that no one saw or heard her trying to make a scene. She stepped back into the empty hallway and aimlessly wandered for a bit.

_ "Now, if I was a Deputy Headmistress with a giant stick up my ass on my lunch break, where would I be?" _

Tiella thought for a short while longer before fishing out her lucky coin from her pocket. She would always bring her lucky coin. Always.

_ "Heads for the staff room, tails for Ozpin's office." _ she flipped the coin and caught it lazily with her right hand. She pressed it down on the back of her left hand as soon as she did and peeked.  _ "Tails, Ozpin's then." _

Remembering the way to Ozpin's office through the same path she and Glynda took to her room, she started walking towards her destination. After a moment of walking, she finally reached the elevator leading up to his office. She went inside and pressed the button to the top and waited patiently while she suffered in silence because of bad elevator music.

Not even waiting for the elevator doors to fully open, Tiella stepped out and speed-walked to Ozpin's office, while again, not bothering to knock. She pulled on the door and swung it open and immediately spoke, "Ozpin, your elevator music is bad. Also, I need to find Glynda."

Ozpin was in the middle of taking a relaxed sip of his mug while leaning on his comfortable reclining "Headmaster Chair" and was surprised to see Tiella suddenly barging in. Sending her one slightly raised eyebrow in response to what she said, he casually placed his mug back to his desk and pointed somewhere to his right with an open palm—where Glynda was already sitting at a chair, a cup of tea on the table in front of her, holding a stack of papers in her hand and giving her a small scowl.

"I'd at least expected you to knock on the  _ Headmaster's Office _ before barging in like you just did," Glynda said, giving Tiella a disapproving look while adjusting her glasses. She sighed, already understanding that Tiella likely won't stop from doing it any time soon.

"Well? What do you need?" She asked, choosing to ignore Tiella's unwarranted diss of the elevator music. She quite liked the elevator's music, it was simple and relaxing.

"Great! Looks like we're all here." Tiella said, taking the opportunity to speak to them with most of her concerns. "Were you talking about something important?"

"Yes, I was just about to tell Ozpin about your request for an advance," Glynda said from her seat coolly.

"Sweet." Tiella smiled, beaming at the news.

"May I know the reason for your request?" Ozpin asked, hands put together with his chin resting atop.

"I'm in severe need of fresh clothes," Tiella said firmly. To this, Ozpin simply raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure we've provided your current accommodations with enough clothing for a school week."

"And I'm grateful. Really, I am."

"Then, may I know the real reason?"

"See, this is why you're not popular with the ladies." Tiella started angrily, her arms crossed in front of her. "You give your female assistant a huge amount of work to do and keep asking questions with answers you don't need  _ or _ want to hear!" she said accusingly.

Ozpin didn't answer and only raised his one eyebrow further.

"Glynda, a little help, please? It's a girl thing." Tiella looked to Glynda pleadingly.

Glynda sighed, adjusting her glasses before turning to Ozpin. "She needs a fresh change of more...  _ personal effects. _ "

Ozpin let the words sink in for a moment, both eyebrows raised at Glynda's statement, then nodded his head slightly and closed his eyes for a moment in understanding. "I see. My sincerest apologies, Tiella. I can definitely see why this is a difficult topic for you to speak with me."

Ozpin turned to face Tiella but only found her with her back turned to them, crouched down, and hiding her face from the both of them.

"Please, stop. Don't torture me anymore." Tiella said to both of them pleadingly, her tone weak and almost in tears. " _ I feel so gross. _ "

"Please, do stand. Be happy to know that you will be receiving your advance this afternoon. Simply drop by as soon as you're done with your schedule for the day." Ozpin said sympathetically.

"...thanks," she said weakly.

"And please, take a seat. Would you like another tall glass of hot milk?"

"I don't like it when you're patronizing me like this but make it sweet and we're good," Tiella said while pouting and took a seat across Glynda.

"Of course. Glynda, if you would please?" Ozpin said, addressing his assistant who'd been watching the whole conversation with tired eyes. She was about to do as was told but Tiella spoke up before she could.

"I'll only forgive you if you make it for me," Tiella said, still pouting. "Glynda did nothing wrong."

Ozpin and Glynda shared surprised looks between them at Tiella's sudden request. They looked back to Tiella, then to each other. And when Ozpin sighed with a wry smile, Glynda sighed in exasperation.

"Very well, I'll be done shortly. I'm sure you and Glynda have a few things you'd like to talk about."

While Ozpin stood to walk over to where the drinks were to be made and mixed, Tiella flashed Glynda a big toothy grin—clearly feeling victorious about making the  _ Headmaster _ of the school she just started working for to do her bidding even if only for a little bit. At this, Glynda rolled her eyes while shaking her head, finding it both normal and surreal for Ozpin to just do as was told.

Ozpin always had a soft spot for children, so he often indulge them, sometimes even going as far as encouraging them to mess around some more. And because of this indulgent attitude, Glynda felt the need to be the opposite. Strict and stern, almost authoritarian in nature.

"Well? I'm sure your advance isn't the only reason you came looking for me." Glynda said, trying to calm down with a sip of her tea.

"Yeah, I wanted you to tell me more about Aura," Tiella said coolly.

"What did you want to know, specifically?"

"I was wondering if it's possible I might have one, too?" Tiella said nonchalantly and continued, "I'm a mercenary, after all. So, I wanna get all the nifty tools I can get my hands on."

"I see," Glynda said, adjusting her glasses once more. Ozpin didn't react, but it was certainly a topic he was interested to hear more about. "Very well. Stand here. Let's see if I can unlock your Aura for you."

"It needs unlocking? I guess that makes sense." Tiella commented absentmindedly while talking towards Glynda. "Wait, we're doing it now? I'm not sure if I'm ready for this."

"Simply keep quiet, stand there, shut your eyes, and concentrate on yourself. I'll handle the rest." Glynda said, walking up to Tiella and placing a hand on her shoulder.

They were both quiet for a second before Glynda started glowing from head to toe. Her eyes widened and shortly after, Tiella glowed a bright red hue. Glynda concentrated on coating Tiella with her aura, then she reached deep into her very soul for a connection.

" _ For it is through deeds of Valor shall we reach Eternity. _

_ Through this, we become a Paragon of Bravery and Hope to rise above the ashes time and again. _

_ With your Will unbending and your Heart unbreaking, I release your Soul, _

_ and by my Light, guide thee. _ "

During Glynda's chant, the room glowed with a mixture of bright purple and red, as if clashing for supremacy. Ozpin watched in no small interest at the light show before him. Shortly before the end, Glynda's glow dimmed, and by the end all but disappeared, leaving the only glow left to be Tiella's red before also fading away shortly.

As soon as Glynda finished, she fell forward drained of energy and leaned on Tiella for support. Caught off guard by the sudden weight on her chest, Tiella immediately opened her eyes to see an exhausted Glynda.

"Glynda?" Tiella asked worriedly.

She lifted Glynda's face to meet hers and checked for anything to indicate what had gone wrong. Due to being surprised by Tiella's sudden show of concern, she could do nothing but stare, slightly wide-eyed.

Not hearing any reaction from the still shocked Glynda, Tiella carried her over to a couch bridal style, laid her down, and took a knee beside her. "Ozpin? What's happening? Is this normal?" she said in a barrage of questions with a seriousness in her tone.

Ozpin watched Tiella in apparent amusement as Tiella thoroughly checked a stunned Glynda's pulse and body temperature.

_ "Nothing's wrong? She's just tired?" _ she thought, registering Ozpin's lack of reaction with what she found with Glynda.  _ "So, this is all par for the course? Unlocking Auras can be real draining to the one doing the unlocking, then?" _

"Headmaster," Tiella spoke—voice low, cold, and unamused.

"Yes?" Ozpin's tone was very amused.

"Please, hand over my glass of milk before I go there and break it on your face."

"As you wish." was Ozpin's curt reply.

Ozpin sauntered over to Tiella who was already back in her seat and placed a tall, hot glass of sweet milk on the table in front of her, then walked back to his own seat by the Headmaster's desk. She grabbed the glass and downed half the contents in one gulp before looking at Glynda with a pout.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" was Tiella's only question to Glynda who hadn't spoken a word for a while, still looking at Tiella incredulously.

"E-Enjoying this? You believe me to have enjoyed that?" Glynda asked in disbelief. "I was drained! Can you imagine being carri-  _ No, _ " she paused, stopping herself mid-rant. She sat upright and took a few deep breaths to calm herself and spoke to Tiella once more while adjusting her glasses and straightening clothing.

"I used my Aura to unlock yours. So, as a result, it would leave me quite winded, even if only for a short while," she said coolly.

"Yeah, I figured." Tiella sighed. She scratched the back of her head and asked both Ozpin and Glynda. "So, how exactly do I use Aura?"

"It's not something you can learn to do on a discussion like this," Glynda answered before sipping her tea. "so, I believe it would be faster for me to teach you personally."

"Okay."

"For now, just understand that your Aura is actively protecting you. And if you wish to use your aura for enhancements, simply focus on the part of your body you wish to enhance." Glynda said as she demonstrated, her open palm glowed purple momentarily before the glow disappeared with one wave of her hand. "It takes a bit of time to get the hang of, so until you do, just keep practicing." she finished as she adjusted her glasses.

"Guess I'll pick fights in the gym," Tiella said nonchalantly, hands on the back of her head.

"What?" Glynda asked in surprise.

"It'll be fine." Tiella dismissed her easily, "I learn better in a fight anyway. And I'm not really afraid of getting my ass handed to me."

"Quite confident, I see," Ozpin commented casually.

"Nope," Tiella said, popping the 'p' sound. "just used to losing that it doesn't bother me much anymore," she said nonchalantly. The answer caught Glynda and Ozpin by surprise, though Ozpin didn't show it.

"That's..." Glynda paused and thought for a moment, "...how about this, then." she proposed, "I'll include you in the roster for spars during Combat Class. We can start later if you're so eager."

"That's perfect!" Tiella beamed, which Glynda didn't readily expect. "I've been wanting to see the difference between me and your kiddies."

"Ozpin? Is this okay with you?" Glynda asked Ozpin for permission to make it official.

"It is fine. I'm sure that it'll be an educational experience for both her and our students alike," he said, nodding his head in approval.

"Very well. Will there be anything else?" Glynda asked Tiella.

"Nope." popping the 'p' sound.

"In that case, you're free to eat your lunch if you haven't already," Glynda said, organizing her stack of papers on the table. "I still have some things I must discuss with Ozpin."

"Sure thing." Tiella said while walking to the door, "See ya." and shut it behind her.

Glynda let out a sigh as soon as Tiella'd gone off. She heard a soft snicker from Ozpin, to which she sent glares.

"You two have certainly gotten close."

"Not  _ now _ , Ozpin."

* * *

_ "Hopefully with Aura, I'll never have the need to use  _ **_'that'_ ** _ ever again." _

Tiella walked toward the cafeteria with a light spring in her steps. She was in a good mood considering what happened with her meeting with Glynda and Ozpin earlier. She had her Aura unlocked, which was great. It'll be another addition to the tools that make her a deadly weapon. The best part, however, is the fact that she'll be getting her advance. Which means she can say goodbye to her stinky undies and throw them into the wash.

After a short while of walking, she finally reached a full house in the cafeteria. She sauntered over to the front to make her order, ignoring the large number of students present inside the hall.

"Hey, Mama!" Tiella called out to the cafeteria lady, remembering how Coco called her earlier this morning.

"What'll it be, doll? Same as this mornin'?" Mama asked, immediately recognizing her as the Meat and Milk Girl, as well as the Professional Bully or so most of the students liked to call her.

"Is that how you attract regulars, Mama? I'm starting to love this place even more now." Tiella commented honestly. "And yeah, I'll have the same as this morning, thanks!"

"Alright," Mama said before turning around and making her order. A short moment later and voila, "One Sloppy Tiella with a tall glass of milk on the side."

"You even remembered the name!" Tiella beamed, "I didn't think you'd actually put it on the menu."

"After you made that crazy order this mornin', I had a couple students that heard you ask for it, too, and it just suddenly became popular."

"Hahaha!" She laughed heartily, "Glad to see that the kids've taken to my slap-up meal kindly. I'll be off Mama, thanks again."

"Any time, doll!" Mama said before she took another student's order.

Tiella started walking in search of a vacant seat but could hardly find one considering the number of people in the cafeteria. She kept walking for a while until she heard a voice call out to her from behind.

"Uh, Tiella?" the voice called, giving her a tap on the shoulder twice.

She turned around to see who called out to her and found that it was none other than Jaune.

"Ah, Jaune, right?"

"Yep, that's me."

"Right, so. Here to try to pick me up again or...?"

"N-No! I'm uh, well..." Jaune stuttered, embarrassed about being reminded of his little blunder when they first met. "I saw you looking for a seat and figured I could just invite you to my friends' table. We have some space left, and they've actually been wanting to meet you since yesterday." he finished in a hurry.

Tiella gave him a raised eyebrow in response. She stared for a little bit longer just because she wanted to see Jaune squirm under her gaze.  _ "He's like a scared little puppy." _

"Alright, Jaune. Lead the way."

A short walk later and they reached their destination.

"Hey, Jaune!" a red-cloaked girl said, her hand waving at them.

"Is that your new  _ girlfriend? _ " a girl with short orange hair asked with a grin, then looked to another girl who had red hair much like Tiella shortly after.

"I thought you said you  _ liked _ me!" said a girl with messy blonde hair before looking to the same red-haired girl as the other one.

Jaune being, well-  _ Jaune _ , could only turn into a stuttering mess at his friends' barrage of teasing.

Catching their drift immediately, Tiella held her tray with one hand and put her arm over Jaune's shoulders to pull him closer, squishing his head between her bicep and right boob.

"Sorry girls, he's  _ my _ boy toy, now," Tiella said with a salacious grin and a wink.

Jaune's face turned as red Tiella's hair and could say nothing coherent. The blonde and the orange haired girl paused for a second to look at each other, then back to Tiella before they both erupted in loud laughter while the rest of the table didn't know how to properly react. One of which was the other redhead who looked between Tiella and Jaune with wide eyes and a forced smile.

Tiella waited for the laughter to die down before she spoke again, letting go of Jaune before speaking. "The name's Tiella."

"We know." the blonde said, "I'm Yang," then proceeded to introduce the rest of her team. "This is Ruby, my sister, and team leader,"

"Hi," Ruby said while giving a little wave.

"This is Blake, my partner," Yang continued.

"Greetings," Blake said in a reserved manner.

"And finally, Ice Queen,"

"Hey!"

"My sister's partner." Yang then proceeded to get her team under her full arm hug and finished, "And together, we're Team RWBY!"

"Yeah!" Ruby said, slightly squished between her sister's left boob and Weiss. "We saw you introduce yourself in Port's and Oobleck's classes earlier!"

"So that's why I recognize some of you," Tiella said, humming in thought.

"Yep!" finally let go from Yang's abrupt group hug, she continued. "Her name's Weiss, by the way."

Tiella looked to the white-haired girl  _ "Is that natural?" _ and wondered about her hair color. She looked back to Ruby and asked, "You look a little younger than the rest, you skipped grades or something?"

"Yeah..." Ruby said, rubbing the back of her head, "Professor Ozpin let me move 2 years ahead after he saw me stop a robbery one time."

"That's nice." was all Tiella said.  _ "Ozpin's a lot more reckless than I thought he'd be, letting a kid in just because she did something nice once." _

"What about your team, Jaune?" Tiella called, turning to Jaune as soon as she sat down with her tray, earning looks from the rest of the table. "Aren't you gonna introduce them?"

"Right!" Jaune said and introduced his team the same way, "I'm Jaune, team leader of JNPR, and this is Pyrrha, my partner."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Pyrrha said politely with a wave of her hand.

"This is-," Jaune tried to continue but was interrupted.

"NORA!" said the girl, introducing herself instead with a lot of enthusiasm.

"Right, and this is Ren, Nora's partner."

Ren, completely opposite to Nora, only nodded his head as a polite greeting.

"Again, nice to meet all of you," Tiella said as soon as they've finished their introductions. She immediately took a big bite of her lunch, which again, turned some heads from the table's occupants. She swallowed her bite then spoke again, "So... Jaune said you all wanted to meet me?"

"Yep," Yang answered for them. "At first we saw you walk in with Jaune yesterday, so we were just a little curious. Right?" she said, looking back to her friends, "Right." she continued, "But then we saw you save the Faunus girl! That was so  _ badass _ how you used Cardin as a weapon to beat up his own team!"

"Pfft." Tiella chuckled at the memory, fondly remembering the terror and pain he brought the boys and the angry look he kept getting from the guy called Cardin. "Yeah, it was pretty hilarious. They were being a bunch of fucking pussies ganging up on a girl who didn't wanna fight back." she took another bite and continued after swallowing, "And since I'm a staff member, I figured it's at least my job to try to stop the bullying."

"By bullying back?" Blake asked incredulously. "You said so yourself,  _ 'Get on my level!' _ ...among other things."

"Hey, the boys will probably be coming after me now. Which I doubt they'll have any luck in." Tiella said after drinking some milk. "And if they tried anything that goes too far, I could probably get them expelled or something. Nothing to worry about."

"Hm." Blake thought for a moment before asking again. "What's your stance on the Faunus?"

"My stance?"

"Yes."

"Personally, I don't care," Tiella said coolly, which irked Blake greatly, though she didn't allow herself to show it. "If you reversed the situation yesterday to make the boys the Faunus and Velvet the human instead, I'd still handle it the same way."

She finished the rest of the lunch and downed it with her milk in one big swig and continued speaking. "An asshole is an asshole, no matter what your race is. But I'm not gonna pretend I give a damn just because I feel a little awful for a thousand people I don't even know." she gave Blake a casual smile as she finished. "Everyone's got it bad in one way or another."

"Anyway!" Tiella said while standing, "I gotta meet up with Professor Peach for her next class, so I'll be seeing you guys. Nice meeting you." then walked off without looking back.

Blake was left contemplating her words after she left and none at the table noticed the slight change in the hidden Faunus' mood. No one but Yang, at least.

Blake felt angry. Angry at the fact that it's because of people like Tiella, people who stood on the fence of things, that allowed the discrimination of her people to happen. She understood clearly that only a minority showed open hostility against the Faunus, even at a young age.

But when she begged for help from the very same humans who were supposed to be their supporters and got nothing but eyes that avoided her own? It disillusioned her greatly.

It made her realize that the world wasn't a stark black and white like the stories of heroes in books. It made her realize that the majority of things were all in the gray. And that the minority that was, was called and dealt with in extremes. It was what led to her decision to stay with the Fang despite the drastic change.

She grew impatient, much like the rest of the Fang that stayed. She felt that despite their best efforts, nothing was changing. So, when humans started seeing them differently, she felt ecstatic. She was glad that finally, change happened. Though, her happiness didn't last. Not for long.

She saw the looks she got from humans.

The fear and anger in their eyes, simply for  _ existing _ .

She ignored them, believing that it was something that can't be helped if she wanted to liberate the Faunus from oppression. But then she saw the looks that her fellow Faunus sent her way. The hate in her Faunus brothers and sisters' eyes that bore through her made her stop and rethink her actions. She realized the change they eagerly sought to bring was what made matters worse for the majority of Faunus all over the world. It was then that she realized that the change they got was definitely what they  _ wanted _ , but  _ not _ what they  _ needed _ .

So, she left.

She left her brothers and sisters in the Fang behind to lead a new life.

An honest life.

A life of just honestly helping people. Helping her brothers and sisters the  _ correct _ way. By bringing a good reputation to all Faunus the best way she could. It's why she chose to become a huntress. To put the skills she learned with the Fang to actual good use.

At least, she wanted to.

She couldn't.

How could she? She was a coward.

An ex-terrorist hiding in plain sight—masquerading as one of the people she was so quick to think badly of—all with the help of a little plain bow.

So, she couldn't find fault or feel actual anger towards Tiella directly. She understood and experienced thoroughly how she can't just force someone to follow in their cause—in their beliefs—if they never cared in the first place.

And it was this indifference that she wanted to change.

So, she'll follow the path she took—the path of being a Huntress—with all her anxiety and cowardice, she'll raise her banner that will both ask for help and send help for her fellow Faunus.

"You know... I can kind of agree with what she said." Yang said contemplatively. "Not everything though, just the  _ 'everyone's got it bad' _ part."

Yang remembered her own past with Ruby clearly.

Losing her own mother before she even began raising her.

Then she lost her foster mother who she grew to love just like a real mom, too.

The pain and confusion she felt as a child made her do things she came to regret later on in life, making her the person she is today.

The rest of the table occupants also went back to their lunch in varying degrees of contemplation.

Ruby wondered how Tiella could stop herself from caring about things so easily. If she has the ability to help and reach out, then she should do it, right?

But she also understood that not everyone will think or do the same. She knew on some level that the world wasn't anything like the stories Yang read to her. But that's also why she wanted to be a Huntress in the first place.

If no one's willing to take up the mantle, to be like the heroes she grew to love and admire—to be like the hero her mom was—then  _ she _ will, even if she has to do it alone.

And while Weiss didn't show it, she agreed with Tiella for the most part, especially on how everyone has it bad in some way, shape, or form—reminding her of her own reasons for choosing to become a Huntress here in Beacon.

She wasn't blind to the truth that her family's company was one of the biggest driving force for Faunus discrimination. It's how she understood her sister's decision to join Atlas' Military, to get away from their father's grasp, albeit incompletely. And being a Huntress was her own way of proving to her father that she's no simple puppet.

That she's her own person, that she'll never be him, and that she'll be the one to usher in a golden age for the Schnee Dust Company in the future.

Jaune could understand everything Tiella said, but that didn't mean he agreed with it.

He always thought that he should help others in any way he can, especially those that have been trying to reach out and call for help.

Just like his forefathers did in the Great War and even before that, he'll keep fighting for what he believed in. Even if he had to swim through mud to reach his goal.

Pyrrha and Ren shared the same sentiments as Jaune, while Nora was contemplating getting the Sloppy Tiella for dinner along with pancakes later on.

* * *

Tiella checked the time on her phone while walking the hallways toward Peach's class. It showed her that it was 15 minutes to 1 pm and that her phone will die within the next day.

_ "I'm not gonna expect anything but I'm gonna ask if they have a charger for this thing anyway." _

She pocketed her phone and noticed that the class she was going to was just a couple paces ahead. So, she sauntered her way over as class was still not in session.

She got to the door and opened it and the first thing she saw was how it was both a lab and a lecture room. The student desks were arranged no differently from the previous classes she'd been to. What made it different was the amount of lab equipment on a very large desk by the front of the class. And unlike the previous class, there were small cabinets on the sides of the room, likely to store more lab equipment for the students' use.

After another short glance around the room, she saw a small child with her pink hair held in a bun by a pen wearing a lab coat, standing no taller than her waist, came out from behind the professor's desk jogging up to her.

"So! I'm guessing you're my assistant today. Great of you to come by so early. Come on in! I already have some things where I need your help with." the child said, arms akimbo while looking up at her.

"Uh... Professor Peach?" Tiella asked incredulously, eyes slightly squinting with one eyebrow raised at her.

"That's me! You're Tiella, right?"

"Yes."

"What're you waiting for? Come on in, I said!" Peach said, eager to put her new assistant to good use.

"Okay." and Tiella confusedly followed.

"I need you to carry all those equipment from the shelves over there to my desk over here."

"Okay."

"And after that, I want you to clear the board of any writings. I'm a little too short to reach the top, as you can see."

"Okay."

"Then, as soon as class starts, I want you to stand beside me when I ask you for help with my experiments throughout the class!"

"Okay."

"Glad to see that you're very cooperative, but it's fine to say words other than 'okay', you know?"

"Oka- I mean, yes. Sure. No, uh, problem, Professor Peach." Tiella said, forcing the words out of her mouth along with a few nods.

_ "She's like, the size of one peach, too. Is she just... really small? Or is she some super genius who got past grade skipping and went for school skipping instead? I'm kinda afraid to ask for some reason." _

And Tiella did everything as told while keeping a neutral expression on her face all throughout.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> Thank you for reading another chapter of Lost Star.
> 
> How was the Aura unlocking scene?
> 
> I contemplated copy-pasting Pyrrha's words into Glynda's chant for the part where she unlocked Tiella's Aura. But then decided against it because that's way too lazy even for me. I just tried paraphrasing it a bit, using words with slightly similar meanings, but still different enough that it didn't look like it was copy-pasted.
> 
> We all know how that worked in school, amirite?
> 
> By the way, anyone who gets sexually excited over my version of Professor Peach shall answer to the FBI.  
> That's right, I AM baiting.


	7. Chapter 7

_ "So... Dust... isn't just plain dirt like I thought." _

The Dust Theories class with Peach was certainly more interesting to Tiella than she'd initially expected. She thought it would be like the previous classes where they did nothing but sit down and listen to the Professor babble, with the occasional questions to some students.

Peach made it clear to her—and likely all her students—that if they don't pay attention in class, things could go from 0 to 100 real fucking fast. Case in point, the shattered beakers and burn marks on the desks.

_ "From what I got, Dust is highly volatile. I wonder what would happen if I mixed it with gunpowder?" _

Tiella wondered about possible ways she could use Dust with her kit while returning the lab equipment back to their respective shelves.

_ "30k a month for carrying a bunch of stuff around. This is easier money than I thought it'd be." _

She dusted her gloves off and walked back to where Peach was sitting, which was by her desk.

_ "Though it's only the first day. The other two didn't really ask me to do anything yet, just letting me observe." _

"That'll be for today, Tiella, good work!" Peach said while compiling papers from the class.

"Thanks, Professor," Tiella said, giving the professor a casual smile.

"I know you're my helper and all, but if you have questions about Dust, I'm your go-to girl!"

"I'll keep that in mind Professor. Thanks again." Tiella turned to leave after giving Peach a casual wave.

Tiella left the room and continued down the hall where she believed the Combat Class was.

She was deep in thought, trying to process everything she learned in the previous class. There were a lot of things that went over her head, but it was understandable in her case as she not only joined a little later than the students did, but also because nothing like it can be found on Earth.

"Dust... huh," she said contemplatively.

She thought about Dust and how to implement it to her own style some more until she shelved it for a later date, deciding that she knew too little to start experimenting on her own about it. She remembered that her next class was to be Glynda's Combat Class, and figured she'd play a harmless prank.

So, she hurried back to her room and grabbed a little something, dismantled it, emptying its contents on an empty bottle she found in the small cabinet under the sink. She then cleaned it up a bit and reassembled it.

After making sure that the little thing was emptied thoroughly, she pocketed it and hurried over to Glynda's class with a big toothy grin.

* * *

"Running late on the  _ last _ class of your  _ first _ day already?"

Glynda said, arms akimbo, as she watched Tiella enter the room and walk to the center of the stage where she stood.

"Sorry Glynda, I ran back to my room for something. Real important."

"Never mind that, stand over there and introduce yourself."

"Yeah, I'll do it in a bit, but first..."

Tiella walked over to Glynda, grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around so they had their backs facing the class, which got the entire class confused and bubbling into low murmurs. She whispered in Glynda's ear as softly as she could, making sure that not even any nearby Faunus could hear her words.

The students couldn't tell what they were talking about or what they were doing, only seeing that they were whispering animatedly.

"No!" Glynda whispered in a very anxious voice. "That's dangerous! You can't just do something like that!"

"It's why I'm asking  _ permission _ , to let you know first!" Tiella said, grin reaching from ear to ear. "Come on, Glynda, it'll be a good test!"

"And what is this test supposed to achieve?"

"It's gonna be a real valuable life lesson."

"..."

"..."

"...are you  _ positive  _ that you've emptied that thing?"

"Yep. It's still a little damp on the inside, too."

"Are you  _ sure? _ "

"Yes."

" _ Super sure? _ "

" _ Super _ sure."

"I can't believe I'm letting you talk me into this."

"Yes! You're not gonna regret it!"

"I already am."

The class saw the tall girl do a little fist pump before turning to face them with a casual smile. They were confused at first but then they saw Glynda's tired look and began wondering what they'd been talking about, but more importantly—what sort of relationship the two had.

"Uh, guys?" Jaune said in a low voice to his friends and team. "Is it just me who's nervous about Tiella right now?"

"What do you mean, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked from beside him.

"I just have a bad feeling, I guess," Jaune said, slightly anxious.  _ "I remember seeing that same expression before she took care of Cardin and his gang." _

Pyrrha wondered what Jaune was worried about, trusting in her leader's instincts. Though before she could wonder any further, Tiella caught her attention.

Tiella eyed the students on their seats with a casual smile on her face, hiding the fact that she was also excited to see how Beacon's batch of first years would do in spars.

Standing coolly with her arms akimbo, still keeping the casual smile up, she reached to her back, removed a pin, then swiftly tossed the little something she'd been hiding into the middle of the classroom before shouting,

" **_GRENADE!_ ** " in the loudest and most serious voice she could muster. A strong commanding tone that brought tension to everyone in the room.

Time felt like it had slowed down to every student in the room for the duration of the grenade's short flight.

Everyone's eyes widened in panic, some already in the middle of jumping away from the anticipated blast radius.

Some students screamed in fear before they could get to move. Very few had a hardened look on their faces as if thinking of another way to deal with said grenade other than jumping away and take cover from where they were.

Some students were already running to  _ catch _ the grenade to throw it out the window.

And the one student that caught the grenade...  _ hid it under himself. _

" _ Run! _ " the boy yelled in an extremely distressed voice.

" _ Go away! _ " His cowering figure could be seen hunched over,

" _ Take cover! _ " shaking nervously in anticipation for the blast that never came.

There was silence in the classroom. Everyone that jumped away and hid peeked to where the boy was hunched on the floor. They all shared looks of confusion with each other, then back to the boy on the floor.

A short moment later, their attention was taken by loud clapping sounds accompanied by jovial laughter at the front of the room.

"Bravo, Jaune!" Tiella walked over to the still hunched Jaune, though his distress was instantly replaced by confusion. "You have the makings of a wonderful  _ meat-shield, _ " she said after taking a knee to put a hand over Jaune in an attempt to calm him down.

"Wha-?" Jaune said shakily. "So... it was a fake?"

"Nah, that's a real grenade," she said nonchalantly.

"What!?" and Jaune unintentionally threw it back to Tiella, who caught it before it hit her face.

"Relax, it's a dud," she said while pocketing said grenade.

"A-... A dud?" Jaune asked incredulously.

"Yep." popping the 'p' sound. "I emptied it earlier just for this one moment. And I gotta say Jaune, what you did was pretty hilarious."

Jaune shifted postures on the floor, now leaning on his hands placed behind him for support. "It was just a prank..?"

"Kinda?"

"W-What do you mean, 'kinda'!? That was scary! People could have gotten hurt an-"

"And you saved everyone by being a fucking idiot. Bravo, Jaune!" Tiella said with a big grin on her face, patting the Jaune on the head. "You could've just kicked the 'nade out the window. Hell, you  _ could _ have just waited for your faster friends to do just that for you. Ain't that right teams?"

Tiella said while giving team RWBY and the rest of JNPR a look.

"But you didn't. You instead  _ played _ the hero."

"I-I panicked!"

"Granted your Aura could have protected you buuuut..." Tiella drawled, looking to Glynda to address her. "What are the odds of survival when shielding a grenade like this with your body?"

Glynda coolly answered while adjusting her glasses, "On an average individual's Aura, there's a fairly high chance of instantly being drained just from the blast force."

Jaune swallowed thickly from what he'd just heard.

"And that doesn't include the shrapnel, now does it?" Tiella asked, her casual grin turning into a mad grin with slits for eyes as she looked back to Jaune.

"Some of the shrapnel would shred the remaining dredges of Aura left after the blast, leaving you with little to no defense against the remaining shrapnel that will inevitably plant themselves into your body." Glynda answered sternly.

Jaune's voice was caught in his throat, not knowing how to react.

"Leading to a very high chance of death by blood loss." Glynda finished grimly.

At this point, Jaune could hardly breathe from the prospect that, had it been a real grenade, he would have already died then and there. He looked at his hands that were shaking uncontrollably and felt cold sweat dripped down his neck and forehead.

"It would be a  _ slow _ and  _ painful _ death depending on the number of holes. As befitting of a  _ stupid _ meat shield." Tiella ridiculed in her mad, mad grin.

Jaune could only stare into the golden slits of the mad woman before her, not knowing what to think or do. On one hand, he was terrified of what had just happened—or what would have happened had it been real. On the other, he tried to understand what Tiella was actually trying to pull other than a laugh for herself.

"But he tried to save us!" Ruby said, standing in front of her desk in a challenging manner. "If that had been a real grenade, he would have saved us!"

"You're absolutely correct, Ruby," Tiella said in acknowledgment.

"Then why are you ridiculing him like th-"

"Because it was a stupid move." Tiella immediately interrupted, the casualness and amusement all but left her voice.

"Bu-" Ruby tried to argue.

"It's okay, Ruby," Jaune said while standing up. "She's right."

_ "She's right. It was a stupid move." _ Jaune thought, chastising himself, realizing that he definitely could have done things differently had he stopped to think.  _ "Just like she said, I could have left it to Ren or Pyrrha, or even Nora to swat away the grenade. But I just had to play the hero. And it would have been the end of me if she was serious." _

"But Jaune!"

"Really, Ruby, it's okay." Jaune gave Ruby a sincere look. One that gave Ruby no choice but to follow his words.

Ruby looked down after seeing the look on Jaune's face, resigned to doing nothing but clench the hem of her skirt tightly in frustration, as he requested.

"Because next time, I'll be sure to do the smart thing," Jaune said in a smile, faking confidence as he dared to stare back into Tiella's sharp gold.

Tiella looked back with her casual smile at Jaune once more and said nothing for a short moment. Then she extended her hand in front, holding it for Jaune to take.

"I'll hold you to that," Tiella said in a voice that was uncharacteristically gentle of her and an even more uncharacteristically warm expression.

This caught Jaune off guard for a moment, mesmerized by the tall girl's sudden show of sincerity. He stared face flushed for a moment before realizing the proverbial olive branch that was the extended hand that was offered to him, which he graciously took.

The moment Jaune took her hand, she grinned, back to her usual casualness and chuckled.

The front row students along with Team RWBY and the rest of Team JNPR watched the exchange in mild shock, wondering if she really did all that just for a prank as she said so.

Not a moment later, Glynda coughed into her hand to catch everyone's attention.

"It's nice to see that you'll be striving to improve for the better, Mr. Arc, but we've wasted enough time already." Glynda finished as she gave Tiella a glare.

To which Tiella only looked away from with her hands on the back of her head, whistling a random tune casually.

"And the same goes for everyone here. Acts of heroism need not always end in self-sacrifice." Glynda said coolly while adjusting her glasses and gave a long hard glance around the class.

"There is  _ always _ a better way."

* * *

As soon as everybody's gotten over Tiella's prank/lesson, everyone returned to their seats.

Beside Jaune, Pyrrha leaned close and spoke in a soft voice, "I'm proud of you, Jaune. Thank you for saving us." in her ever gentle tone, while taking her partner's hand into hers.

"Yeah, Jaune! You did great!" Ruby said from a few seats away in a sort of loud whisper. "You were just like the heroes in my books!"

Jaune looked back to his team and found Nora giving her two thumbs up while saying, "You're the best. Leader.  _ Ever! _ "

while Ren simply gave him a grateful nod and smile, "Thank you, Jaune."

"Yeah, thanks, Vomit Boy!" Yang whisper-yelled from her seat which was a little further from Ruby. Blake also joined in by giving Jaune her own grateful smile and nod.

Even Weiss dropped her usual act to express her own gratitude... "It would be greatly unbecoming of me to not express my gratitude for your attempts to shield us from harm." ...somewhat.

"So, thank you, Jaune Arc. I will always remember this day." she finished in a small, grateful smile.

So she  _ can _ drop the act after all, what a sweet Ice Queen.

_ "Quiet, you!"  _ was Weiss' sudden irrational thought.

And surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, even the students behind them who he never really spoke to before expressed their gratitude as well.

"Yeah, thanks, Arc!"

"Don't listen to the Professional Bully, Jaune."

"Yeah, Arc, you were actually pretty awesome back there! And I thought you were just a chump!"

Jaune was caught off guard by the sudden outpour of appreciation that he was still in the middle of receiving. He looked back to his partner, who gave her another warm smile in response.

"So, be proud of yourself too, Jaune. Like we are of you." was all Pyrrha said.

It was at this point that Jaune couldn't help but well up in tears, holding himself back from crying in his seat so as to not be a sobbing wreck in class.

"T-Thanks, guys," Jaune said while his voice was nearly caught in his throat from the swell of emotion.

_ "Thanks, Tiella." _

* * *

Tiella was standing next to Glynda as they both watched the class shower Jaune in praise and gratitude.

"Can you  _ believe _ this  _ sap-fest _ happening right in the middle of  _ your _ class?" Tiella said to Glynda in a voice low enough that only they would be able to hear. She then scoffed and continued,

" _ Kids, _ am I right?"

Glynda didn't answer. She only pinched the bridge of her nose, inhaled deeply, and muttered the words under her breath, "This is what I get for letting you talk me into this."

"Oh, come on! Isn't it great? You now have one less kid with a hero complex!"

"Just introduce yourself already, please," she said, exasperated already.

"I'm pretty sure all of them already know me as the Professional Bully," Tiella said teasingly, but then she saw the glare of pure rage in Glynda's eyes and the way she held her riding crop tightly on one hand.

"But yeah, you're right, introductions are important." she swallowed thickly and hurried along to the middle of the stage.

Tiella made one loud clap to catch everyone's attention and also to stop them from making a sobbing mess of Jaune.

"Uh, I'm sure you already know me." She said, giving everyone a glance in the room. Unsurprisingly, she got irked reactions sent her way. "But the name's Tiella. I'll be an assistant to Professor Goodwitch in some of her classes, much like with the other professors."

She separated her hands and spread her arms in a sort of welcoming gesture. "Though, during this class, I'll also be in the roster for spars from today onwards."

Pyrrha's eyes widened at the news. She, as  _ the four-time Champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament _ , was very interested to see what she saw this morning against an actual opponent. More specifically, her.

When she was doing her morning training in the gym earlier, she saw Tiella walk in with the bunny girl Faunus, who she believed she called as Velvet, and she had a good look at Tiella's lithe build at the time. It wasn't the type to rely heavily on muscle mass for explosive power as Nora or Yang did.

In fact, you could say that Tiella seemed quite slim. Though even that couldn't mar her shapely figure.

What she saw from Tiella was similar to what she saw from Ren. A speed and agility based build that puts emphasis on quick strikes for disorienting the opponent, leaving them open for a devastating blow to finish. Though, based on what she did to that punching bag, she was a lot less graceful and elegant with her moves—opting a more straightforward approach. She also seemed to pack a  _ much _ larger punch by a long shot.

She couldn't understand at first how simple jabs, hooks, and straights using only short to mid-ranged wind ups could hit so hard, so she observed her movements for a while and found something incredible.

Tiella would spin, ever so slightly, from her toe, going up to her sole, then ankle, followed by her leg, knee, thigh, hips, waist, chest, shoulder, elbow, forearm, and finally her fist.

It was the same principle of striking she would sometimes use, but it was on a whole other level to what she was used to seeing. She'd seen masters pull the same thing off easily and at a much more refined form than Tiella did, but it was only during one hit demonstrations on wooden dummies. Never on live combat and chained in combos.

And the speed of which she struck with the technique! It was no exaggeration to say that she must have repeated those very same moves tens of thousands of times upon thousands of hours. It was at rates that seemed blurry even to her trained eyes!

How someone just slightly older could reach a level far beyond her peers already was a mystery to her, but it was something she was very willing to explore and experience for herself.

And so, quietly where she sat, her blood pumped. Eager to have a chance to dance on the same floor against the infamous Professional Bully.

And unbeknownst to her, just a few seats away to her left, a certain blonde brawler felt just the same, if not more.

_ "I heard her talk to Goodwitch about fighting some invincible monster for hours in a battle of attrition in her room. So, if what she's saying is true, then she's one hell of a monster herself." _ Yang thought with a ferocious grin, eyes wide in anticipation, unconsciously clenching her fists and bouncing her leg in uncontainable excitement.

"So, with that, I'll be in your care," Tiella said with a big wide grin, finished with her introductions.

"Now that introductions are over, we will begin with the first match of the day," Glynda said coolly, back to wearing her professional face while holding on to a large touchscreen tablet.

"Again, for our first 4 matches, it will be random selections," she said as two large holographic screens appeared behind her. "And after that will be the Volunteer matches until the class ends."

The holographic screens showed two blank frames that started shuffling as she explained.

"Is everyone ready?" Glynda asked while adjusting her glasses.

The first image showed Cardin Winchester.

And almost immediately, Cardin stood from his seat and cheered with his team.

During team CRDL's sausage fest, the second screen kept shuffling until it produced the first match's second contender, which drew excited murmurs from the student seats.

Celestiella V. Margory.

As soon as Cardin saw the image, he immediately glared at the person herself. Still remembering the pain and embarrassment he suffered through while unconscious just yesterday.

He rushed to the locker room behind the stage to prepare for his revenge against the giant red bitch. He'll be the one doing the humiliation this time.

Meanwhile, Tiella was just happy she gets to go first. So, she sauntered off to the locker room and changed into a more spar-worthy attire.

After a couple of minutes, Cardin came out of the locker room in full battle attire with his signature armor and mace. Tiella on the other hand...

"Hey! Weren't you the boy I thrashed yesterday?" she said arrogantly, walking out the locker room wearing her signature big grin while doing light stretches.

Glynda stared at Tiella with a blank expression, unsure of what to make of her attire.

The class stared at her for a moment before they erupted in cheers.

Particularly the boys.

And some of the girls.

For Tiella's sparring gear, she chose her sports bra and shorts. She'd taken her gloves off as well as her pants, boots, and socks, opting to go both barehanded and barefoot.

"Tch. You'll be the one getting the thrashing this time, you giant bitch." Cardin responded, wielding his mace threateningly. "You just got a lucky shot from behind, you fucking coward!"

And the crowd goes  _ "Ooooohhh!". _

Tiella sighed in response, faking tiredness of the situation. "Better buckle the fuck up boy because you're going on another ride on the Tiella-Go-Round."

"Where's your weapon?" Cardin asked. "Wouldn't want this to end quickly for you, now would we?"

"Weapon? In a spar?" Tiella looked to Glynda curiously. "Do you take spars seriously here?"

"You're free to fight however you wish, so long as you won't regret it." Glynda answered coolly.

"I'm good, then."

" _ Ooooohhh! _ "

"You fucking bitch. Is that your excuse for when I beat you to a pulp?"

"I dunno, but it sure sounds like most of the bitching's coming from you, little boy."

And the crowd goes  _ "Ooooohhh!" _ once more, followed by jovial laughter.

"Now, students." Glynda chimed in before the match instead becomes a full-on trash talking battle. "We all know the rules. There is no time limit and the first one whose Aura dips into the red loses. Nothing short of fatal and crippling attacks can be used, other than that, you may go all out."

Glynda eyed both fighters critically. "Are both fighters ready?"

Cardin was glaring at Tiella until she walked closer to him and extended her fist towards him, which then made him both angry and confused.

"Come on, kid," Tiella said, inviting Cardin over with a wave of her head. "Don't you show sportsmanship around here?"

"Go fuck yourself." Cardin all but spat.

Tiella looked at him with a blank face for a second, before pursing her lips and nodding her head. "Suit yourself."

Glynda watched Tiella go back to her place and take a fighting stance, and not a moment later,

"Begin!"

Cardin was about to go charging in with an overhead swing of his mace but paused when he saw Tiella do some more stretching and flexing of her arms, legs, and back.

He was insulted for a bit, thinking that this bitch wasn't taking her seriously at all, but then he saw the chords of steel that were apparently her muscles popping up as she tensed her body, conditioning it for a fight. His eyes hardened, refusing to let the show intimidate him.

She then stretched her neck while doing the same with her chest and back, and then cracked her knuckles before speaking.

"Alright, I thought you were just a chump but looks like you have manners after all." She said with a wide grin.

"No excuses for when you lose, bitch."

"Well?" she taunted, inviting him to come at her with a few waves of her hand. "Let's go, baby."

And Cardin charged as he originally intended.

* * *

Tiella was easily dodging Cardin's swings with minimal movement of her body, barely stepping away from where she stood.

_ "Figures. A big weapon and heavy armor equal sitting fucking duck."  _ she thought boredly, observing her opponents every move and mannerisms before making her move.

She ducked slightly, moving out of the way of a swing that nearly caught her head.

_ "This poor sap doesn't know how to fight another person." _

She thought for a moment while looking at Cardin's face that was steadily getting angrier and angrier.

"Stop running and fight back you stupid bitch!"

_ "I wonder how hard my Aura can handle?" _ Tiella thought, so she stood there, bracing herself for a swing that went for her midsection.  _ "There's gotta be a reason why they allow actual weapons in spars, right?" _

The strike sent her flying across the stage and skidding on the floor.

Cardin smirked, glad that he was finally able to land a hit on the slippery bitch, though his minor celebration didn't last long.

She stood back up with a kip up and checked herself all over for any injuries, ignoring Cardin who was already charging at her, holding his mace with one hand for a large swing from the right.

_ "Amazing... that should have broken my ribs along with my arm and back already! But I felt nothing more than a forceful bump!"  _ Tiella grinned madly while giving herself another once-over.

_ "Aura's..." _

And without looking, she took one big step closer into Cardin's range where his mace would miss and any swinging would be harder for him. She gave him a wide-eyed grin which sent  _ "Oh fuck" _ signals to his brain, making him reflexively move out of the way, however it was already too late.

She partially covered his field of vision with her open left palm, then sent an uppercut with all her might using her right, surprised to note that it was far faster than she ever expected she'd be able to do, testing the upper limits of how much her passive Aura enhancement raised her physical speed and strength.

The blow sent Cardin flying dozens of meters straight into the air, before landing on his head just a few meters where Tiella stood.

"...amazing," she said to herself while looking at her hands in that ever-present battle-mad grin, in no small amount of astonishment.

_ "I've created a monster." _

Was Glynda's only thought as she coolly watched Tiella grinning crazily in place. She silently feared for the boy's remaining dredges of dignity as she watched Tiella walk over to Cardin who was groggily getting up from the floor.

_ "Oum bless his soul." _

Tiella tightly grabbed Cardin by the shoulders and helped him up, dusting his armor off and then giving him a friendly pat on the shoulders. The still groggy Cardin couldn't understand what was happening, so, he was left watching Tiella sending him a friendly smile...

"You know, little boy... I didn't need Aura to beat you..."

which then turned into another mad grin as she took a step back, took a large wind up with her back, left arm relaxed and fist partially closed.

"But now  _ I'm gonna fuckin' tear ya a new one! _ "

At that moment, she was akin to a machine. A high-powered, well-oiled machine that spun from her large right toe all the way to the relaxed fist that was hurtling itself at blinding speeds towards Cardin's chest armor.

Cardin couldn't see the incoming attack, but he knew where it would be landing, so he raised his mace just in time to block the blow.

Her muscles were relaxed.

Her mind was calm.

She needed to be if she wanted to reach greater speeds.

And so, starting from the ever so slightly rotating toe, up to her half-closed fist, she was without tension.

Up until just before the moment of impact, when her fist crashed into the shaft of Cardin's mace.

Her toes gripped the floor tightly, her legs and thighs tightened, her butt clenched, her abdomen stiffened, her chest hardened, her back and her arms up until her fists firmed. Chords of steel rippled through her body, springing all the tension she'd collected during the motion to release it all on one point.

The blow sent the weapon flying away, even as her fist continued to rush into Cardin's chest plate.

There was a loud clang that was heard from the stage, followed by a loud thud on a nearby wall.

Cardin was off the stage and partially planted into the wall, already unconscious with a visibly large dent over his plate armor.

Glynda's eyes were wide. She was stunned as she barely saw the whole thing happen, only registering the punch as soon as she heard the sound and saw Tiella's form instantly relaxing not even a second after making contact with Cardin's armor—her left arm pulled back close to her body.

The entire class was quiet for a moment, not understanding what had just happened. They watched silently as Tiella stood relaxed, arms akimbo, then suddenly reaching her right arm slightly to her side with an open palm, catching Cardin's mace that they hadn't even noticed was sent flying.

Team RWBY didn't know how to react, it was their first time seeing someone in class knocked out after two punches.

Team JNPR also didn't know how to react, it was their first time watching a match where they couldn't see or understand how the finishing blow worked.

Glynda eyed Tiella confusedly, then Cardin worriedly. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be officiating the spar, so she looked at the Aura levels of both fighters.

Tiella was at 79%, still in the green. Cardin, as she feared, however, was at 0%.

In a stern and loud voice, Glynda yelled, "The winner is Cardin Winchester! Celestiella Margory is disqualified!"

The class was confused by the verdict, so they immediately looked to Cardin's image on the first screen.

"Team CRDL," Glynda yelled to get the boys' attention and continued in a commanding tone, "get your leader to the nurse's office immediately!  _ Now! _ " urging the boys to action.

Glynda then angrily walked over to Tiella who was standing slightly wide-eyed at the verdict, already understanding what she'd likely done wrong. She grabbed Tiella's arm tightly and spoke in a hushed, angry voice.

"You. You're coming with me after class ends."

**Author's Note:**

> AN: Hello again! (I just love Pyrrha's greeting, bless her soul)
> 
> I've always wanted to try writing an OC into one of my favorite series. Don't worry though, I'll do my best not to turn it into some power fantasy self-insert!
> 
> In all honesty, Tiella is from an original story that is still in the works. I wanted to practice writing her as a person, so I can shape her into a more realistic, consistent character. So in a way, writing her into the RWBY-verse as fanfic is my way of experimenting and/or learning how to write a character's development a little.
> 
> Let me know if you have questions here in the reviews or you can send em in PMs too, and I'll answer them in another AN. If I *don't* answer your question, rest assured that I'll let the story do the answering for you.
> 
> Don't eat me alive please, I know some of us are tired of reading about OCs, but that'll never end. Just like the isekai-genre in anime, manga, and light novels.


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